| There is no benefit in deliberately lowering the LTE speed
| 5G-LTE, sharing backbone network may slow down speeds
| Need to expand infrastructure and gain experience in network operation

It was exactly two hours early.

South Korea launched the world’s first 5G commercial service at 11 p.m. on the 3rd, two hours ahead of the United States. But being world’s first is not synonymous with being world’s best. Users have expressed their dissatisfaction. The dissatisfaction first came from LTE users, not 5G users.

Since 5G became commercialized, it is not hard to find people everywhere who have experienced slow LTE connections. KakaoTalk, which had been working fine, has stopped working, and Netflix has become unavailable. Smartphones have been frequently trying to connect to LTE and failing again.

Even now, there are still many people criticizing this in Internet communities and news comment sections. There are three reasons for the public opinion.

First, carriers deliberately slowed down LTE speeds to increase 5G subscribers. Second, carriers pulled LTE resources to increase 5G speeds. Third, the service was launched hastily in an attempt to claim the world's first title despite the poor 5G infrastructure.

If we really analyze the causes of public opinion, some are true and some are not.


Did they intentionally make LTE slow?
First of all, it is inconsistent to slow down LTE speeds to make 5G stand out more. Current 5G services are based on 5G NSA (Non-Standalone). 5G NSA is a standard technology that 3GPP has established to use LTE networks as well as 5G networks in preparation for data interruptions. Therefore, 5G cannot operate without LTE assistance. If LTE speeds are deliberately slowed down, 5G will also slow down.
Then, the second guess that it is using LTE resources seems correct. However, it is not. It is true that it uses the LTE network, but 5G does not overlap with LTE in frequency band. The LTE frequency band is from 850㎒ to 2.6㎓. 5G uses the 3.5㎓ and 28㎓ bands. In other words, only 5G users can use the LTE network. Also, the number of LTE subscribers is much larger than 5G subscribers. LTE technology development is still ongoing. In fact, LTE speeds in 2019 are 16 times faster than in its early days in 2011.

So what is the real cause? KT, which had been silently denying this, explained on the 19th that the LTE disconnection phenomenon was a failure that occurred during the process of optimizing the 5G network. During the 5G base station update process, an error occurred in the LTE phone receiving the 5G signal, and conversely, the 5G phone connected to the LTE signal and the signal did not disconnect, resulting in a kind of overload. KT stated that it had resolved this through a software update.

We can't be sure. 5G and LTE are clearly different in many ways. They use different frequencies and have different base stations and equipment. However, the current 5G network and LTE network share a backbone network that connects to base stations. This means that LTE speeds may be slow.

There is only one conclusion that can be drawn. It is true that LTE speeds are slow and 5G speeds are unsatisfactory, but it is not intentional. It is excessive. The three mobile carriers did not slow down LTE for 5G. However, it is also true that there are some parts that are a bit unreasonable in order to claim the title of world's first.


We need to expand infrastructure and improve operational capabilities.
5G has a high frequency band and short transmission distance, so the number of base stations must be absolutely large. Building this is a task that takes time.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT’s 5G base station status, there were 85,261 5G base stations installed nationwide as of early April. Of these, SK Telecom had 38,213, KT had 35,264, and LG U+ had 11,784. This is about 1/10 of the 832,380 LTE base stations. Of these, 54,899 base stations were installed in the metropolitan area. The industry estimates that 120,000 base stations are needed to build a nationwide network, which is expected to be completed next year.

In addition to the number of base stations, 5G operational experience is also important. The 5G frequency band is highly linear, so if there is an obstacle, the radio waves cannot reach. Even if the base stations are densely located, the quality may deteriorate if the coverage overlaps. It is also not usable indoors or underground.

Although work is continuing to expand 5G’s external coverage and secure indoor quality, the industry predicts that a significant improvement will be difficult within this year. In addition, 5G services are currently only available in the 3.5 GHz band. The 28 GHz band, which can handle larger amounts of traffic, has stronger straightness and shorter range than the 3.5 GHz band, so more effort must be put into solving the aforementioned problems.

The start was fast. But the start is not half the battle. The start is the start. 5G has just taken its first steps. There is still a long way to go.