Telecom firms, science ministry urged to prove 5G standalone reliability

The planned rollout of 5G standalone (SA) services is renewing calls for telecom operators and the ICT ministry to deliver more reliable connections amid concerns that the transition could repeat the shortcomings of the initial 5G rollout unless consumers see tangible improvements in service quality.

The Ministry of Science and ICT made the 5G SA adoption a policy priority late last year, requiring telecoms to transition to the technology as a condition for mobile spectrum reallocation. SK Telecom and LG Uplus are targeting commercial launch of 5G SA services by the end of this year, joining KT, which introduced SA support for the iPhone 17 series in March.

Unlike earlier 5G networks that rely on a fourth-generation (4G) LTE core, 5G SA uses a dedicated 5G core to reduce latency and support applications such as autonomous driving and physical artificial intelligence (AI).

The rollout comes amid lingering concerns over service reliability, with consumers having faced higher bills but limited improvements over LTE during the initial 5G transition. If operators seek to charge more for SA-based services without delivering substantial gains in reliability and performance, they risk renewed criticism over the value of their networks.

Rep. Kim Nam-kuk of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea urged the ministry to give greater weight to network stability, service continuity and latency in its annual telecom quality assessments.

“Policies focused on user-perceived quality should be strengthened by sufficiently reflecting services that have become more relevant to people's daily lives, connection stability and factors such as latency and interruptions,” Kim said.

The government conducts the assessments to help consumers compare services and encourage network investment. But download speeds alone cannot fully capture how reliably mobile services perform in everyday settings, including on subways and inside buildings.

A study by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute involving 2,245 5G users found that 64.6 percent prioritized service continuity, while 60 percent cited connection stability as a key quality factor.

The ministry has begun broadening its approach. Last year, it introduced measures tracking whether connections meet the speed requirements of activities including web searches, short-form video, video conferencing and high-definition streaming.

In August, it said it would expand its assessments alongside the rollout of 5G SA to include upload speeds, latency, network-slicing quality and user-perceived quality.

However, the planned changes leave a broader question of whether the annual assessments adequately reflect the quality consumers experience in everyday use. Kim called for the assessment framework to evolve alongside the government's AI ambitions, as AI-powered services become more widespread and users increasingly rely on fast responses and stable connections.

“The government's ‘AI for All’ policy also puts forward chatbots and AI agents, for which real-time responsiveness and stability are important, as its main services,” he said.

“From the perspective of policy consistency as well, the telecommunications service assessment framework must be continuously managed and supplemented so that it can reflect actual usage environments.”