S. Korea continues developing 5G services, marks 1 year since world-first launch

5G 세계 첫 상용화 1주년... 앞으로 '킬러앱' 개발 필요

South Korea became the first country in the world to commercialize 5G around this time last year.
Since then, millions of people in South Korea have become users of the superfast network, and the country has seen experienced remarkable progress in 5G-related technologies.
Oh Soo-young has more.
South Korea is continuing to speed ahead with its plan to become a world leader in 5G,... one year after its world-first launch of the super-fast network.
The country hit five-million-360-thousand 5G subscribers as of February,... a monthly increase of eight percent,... showing steady growth despite fears of market downturn amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although launches of new 5G products and services have been postponed around the world,... the market still has potential to grow.
"I think there'll be a lot of consumers working from home, rethinking their setups and saying, what do I need to know with the new normal, the new world that we live in? In which case there's a very real possibility that 5G phone, a new laptop, even a new television because we're in front of the TV all the time. There could be a wave of consumerism once things settled down."
Kaplan says a gamechanger for the network would be a killer 5G app.
"I know in South Korea there's a popular baseball app, like where it allows you to not just watch video high speed it actually changed cameras in real time. That's fascinating. And I think we need to see that several more of those."
Korean IT firms like KT Corporation are finding ways to make 5G work amid the pandemic.
"Our 5G based video call service allows multiple users to chat with 3D avatars. The usage has doubled amid social distancing and telecommuting. Other services include VR game contents with 8K quality as well as 5G game streaming."
Since launching 5G on April third last year,... the country has not only released entertainment content, but has tested driverless vehicles,... emergency medical care and even remote farming solutions that run on the wireless network.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.