Seoul: South Korea, already one of the most wired countries on earth, Wednes-day announced a 1.6 trillion won ($1.5 billion) plan to roll out a next-generation 5G wireless service quick enough to download full-length films in a second.
The science ministry said it aims to implement the technology — about 1,000 times faster than the 4G services currently available within six years.
“We helped fuel national growth with 2G services in the 1990s, 3G in the 2000s and 4G around 2010. Now it is time to take preemptive action to develop 5G,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Countries in Europe, China and the US are making aggressive efforts to develop 5G technology and we believe there will be fierce competition in this market in a few years,” it said.
Under the roadmap, a trial 5G service will be rolled out in 2017 and a fully commercial service in December 2020.
Priority will be given to developing key features for the new network, including Ultra-HD and hologram transmission as well as cutting-edge social networking services.
Related industries will be able to rack up sales of 5G-related devices and infrastructure equipment worth 331 trillion won from 2020 to 2026, the ministry estimated. The government hopes to implement the plan with investment and cooperation from operators such as SK Telecom and Korea Telecom as well as handset makers like Samsung and LG.
It also aims to expand the telecom infrastructure equipment industry, that is weaker than the mobile devices.
