Engineers set up a 5G base station in Seoul in this photo provided by KT Corp.
SEOUL, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) — SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp. are accelerating their efforts to expand coverage and improve speed in order to maintain their leadership in 5G mobile network quality and prevent LG Uplus Corp. from taking the lead.
Since March, the two telecom operators have been replacing 5G base station equipment in the Seoul metropolitan area with the 65TRx transceivers developed by Samsung Electronics Co. for domestic use.
Compared to the existing 32TRx transceiver, the new 65TRx has more than double the number of antennas, significantly improving coverage and speed.
Ahead of the government’s 5G quality assessment, SK Telecom and KT are speeding up the introduction of 64TRx to maintain their competitive advantage against LG Uplus.
Four years after the commercialization of 5G, the two carriers have provided services using a 100-megahertz (MHz) bandwidth frequency, while LG Uplus has only used an 80-MHz to avoid interference with adjacent bands.
However, LG Uplus began offering a 100-MHz bandwidth frequency-based 5G service nationwide last year after acquiring an additional allocation of a 20-MHz bandwidth from the government.
In Seoul and other metropolitan areas, LG Uplus is already using Huawei Technologies Co.’s 64TRx transceiver, which is widely recognized for its industry-leading performance.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
