Since 5G was introduced at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, fierce competition has taken place among the three major domestic telecommunications companies to dominate the 5G telecommunications market.

As a result of large-scale base station installation and investment in 5G communication infrastructure, KT has currently opened 36,210 base stations nationwide, LG U+ has built 30,365 base stations, and SKT has built 21,954 base stations to provide 5G communication services.
However, the 5G frequency band currently in use is 3.5GHz, which feels a bit slow to be called 5G, and in addition, there are complaints from users about the continuous communication speed due to NSA (Non Stand Alone) that is used simultaneously with LTE.

To solve this problem, the three telecommunications companies are currently accelerating investment in 28GHz band repeater base station facilities. However, consumers who have already purchased 5G products will not be able to make calls in that band even if the 28GHz service is available. This is because the frequency of the devices already released is set to the 3.5GHz band. In any case, the three telecommunications companies are preparing to install 5G base stations and provide services in the 28GHz band according to their specifications.

LG Uplus announced that it has verified a speed that is up to three times faster than the existing 5G in the allocated 28GHz band. The maximum download speed was 4.2Gbps, and the upload speed was 1Gbps. It is more than 10 times faster than the current maximum upload speed of LG U+ 5G.

KT also plans to complete the development of 28GHz transmission and reception equipment this year with Samsung Electronics, aiming for commercialization next year. KT is developing base station equipment that combines the antenna and base station into one. This will show higher performance in a smaller size than existing 3.5GHz equipment.
SKT is also conducting tests by installing a 28GHz 5G ultra-high frequency commercial base station in cooperation with Samsung. Last August, at the Yeongam F1 Circuit, the technology was verified by conducting a live 5G broadcast from a racing car running at 213km using 28GHz ultra-high frequency 5G.
All three mobile carriers are targeting 2020 as the start of their 28GHz services. When the 28GHz service is launched, it is expected that the development of high-speed communication-based devices will gain momentum in various fields such as autonomous vehicles, smart factories, and intelligent CCTVs, which are currently under continuous development, as well as consumer communication complaints that are currently a problem.

However, due to the low diffraction characteristic of the fast straight-line signal characteristic of 28GHz, there is a burden of having to build more base stations than the existing 3.5GHz band base stations to overcome obstacle avoidance. In addition, developing a chipset that supports the 28GHz band is also a task for smartphones that use 5G the most.

Qualcomm's communication chips, which are currently most widely used in smartphones, are tuned for 3.5GHz. Qualcomm said it will release a chipset that supports 28GHz by the end of this year.

The current 5G communication method is called NSA (Non Stand Alone). It minimizes inconvenience by using the existing 4G LTE network instead of just 5G.

The 28GHz 5G, scheduled to be launched next year, will be based on 28GHz from chipsets to repeaters. It is said to be implemented in a true SA (Stand Alone) manner.

When applying any new technology, the most important thing to consider is the social value cost. It is a welcome thing that faster and newer technologies are being applied to the market. However, for market value, rather than speed battles, it seems necessary to apply 28GHz ultra-high-speed communication technology based on sequential communication base station network stability that can minimize user complaints.