New biz focus poses dilemma for telecom firms

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By Kim Bo-eun

The country's three major telecom companies saw their profits grow in the first quarter, backed by new business ventures in non-telecom sectors as they seek opportunities within new fields of information and communication technology such as artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing.

This may have pleased management at the mobile carriers, but they are facing increasing criticism for low internet speeds ― a fundamental problem they need to remedy as this is part of their core business.

The controversy was ignited by a star YouTuber who claimed the actual upload and download speed of his 10 gigabit-per-second internet connection plan was only 100th of what was promised by his provider, KT. This “expose” snowballed, prompting the government to launch an inspection into the three telecom companies' internet speeds. Lawyers for consumers are now seeking to file a class action lawsuit against KT for substandard internet quality.

Complaints over 5G speed have also continued in the two years since the “commercialization” of the latest generation telecommunication services in April 2019, as users have found quality issues with services not matching the pricey plans they are paying for. In addition, access to 5G services still largely depends on region, as provincial areas lack the necessary infrastructure.

Services offered through 5G are supposed to be 20 times faster than those using the standard Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. But, at best, users are currently only getting 4.5 times the speed.

This is due to a dire lack of base stations that can transmit at 5G speeds. Data show that the total number of base stations fell as of the first quarter of 2021.

In 2018, the three mobile carriers submitted plans to set up 45,215 base stations using the 28 gigahertz bandwidth within three years. The 28 gigahertz stations enable faster speed than the 3.5 gigahertz stations that are used to offer current services and are crucial for the 20 times faster than LTE speeds as promised. But there are currently only around 100 such stations.

The 28 gigahertz frequency enables greater speed, but has a shorter range, which requires more stations to be set up within shorter distances. This raises the cost for the telecom firms.

“Investment into the 28 gigahertz infrastructure will speed up when businesses' need for faster speeds grows, as they set up facilities such as smart factories,” a telecom firm official said.