Local 5G B2B market to be open to non-telco firms in Korea

The Korean government will grant access to 5G frequency band to non-telco firms this year to increase market competition and improve service in the B2B industry, allowing IT and system integration companies to use the spectrum in the process of solution development.

The Ministry of Science and ICT Tuesday released the local 5G policy direction during a committee meeting which was attended by heads of the country’s three telcos and Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Naver Labs.

A local 5G network is a customized network specialized for buildings or factories in a specific area. If telcos alone participate in local 5G network business, related investments may experience contraction or delay due to lack of competition, and there are concerns the global 5G B2B market may be preoccupied, the ministry said.

The opening of the local 5G network market to general companies means the end of the 20-year frequency monopoly by the three mobile carriers. This will open an era in which industrial solutions such as autonomous vehicles and smart factories compete with MEC technology provided by the mobile carriers. Such solutions do not tolerate a delay of one thousandth of a second in data transmission.

In a demand survey, Naver and several other companies said they hope to build their own local 5G network due to a delay in the introduction of the latest technology by mobile carriers, as well as fee and security problems.

For example, a company can build its own network to meet the local need where 50:50 allocation for download and upload is necessary for robot connectivity instead of a typical 80:20 setup. Through this process, an optimized solution itself becomes know-how and may become a solution for export.

SI providers such as Samsung SDS, LG CNS, and SK C&C have allegedly indicated that they are willing to actively participate in the business when the policy direction is determined.

The government plans to finalize a supply plan for the 28㎓ band for 5G by March and start 28㎓ frequency distribution in the first half of this year. For general services that require a band below 6GHz, the government decided to give Naver and other applicants temporary access for pilot projects.

The government said it will collect more feedback from general companies this year and consider the opening of a frequency band below 6㎓ used by telcos for B2C purposes.

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