SKT beats two other mobile carriers in 5G download speed

[Photo by MK DB]

SK telecom (SKT) boasts the fastest 5G download speed in South Korea, beating other local rival mobile carriers, KT and LG Uplus, according to an annual 5G service quality evaluation this year.

The average 5G download speed of the three mobile carriers was 896.10 Mbps this year, an increase of 11.8 percent from 94.62 Mbps last year. SKT’s 5G download speed was 1,002.27 Mbps, followed by KT (921.49 Mbps) and LG Uplus (764.55 Mbps). SKT’s 5G download speed improved 7.8 percent from last year, exceeding 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps) for the first time since the quality evaluation was implemented. KT showed the largest increase rate with a 20.8 percent rise from last year’s 762.50 Mbps. LG Uplus’ also increased by 7.3 percent.

This year’s evaluation coverage was expanded to include all 85 administrative districts and major towns and townships across the country, said the Ministry of Science and ICT on Thursday.

In terms of 5G coverage area, the average of the three telcos was 33,212 square kilometers, an increase of 74.4 percent compared to a year ago. As for coverage by carrier, SKT had 34,241 square kilometers, KT 33,185 square kilometers, and LG Uplus 32,210 square kilometers.

All three companies, however, failed to improve 4G LTE speed significantly. The average LTE download speed of the three telcos was 151.92 Mbps, an increase of only 1.62 Mbps compared to last year, which is still lower than the 2020 average of 153.10 Mbps.