The Ministry of Science and ICT and the three major mobile carriers held an emergency meeting.
Discussion on a data highway supporting the Korean New Deal
5G deployment in 85 cities nationwide by the first half of 2022


On the 15th, Minister of Science and ICT Choi Ki-young held an emergency meeting with the representatives of the three major mobile carriers (SKT Park Jung-ho, KT Ku Hyun-mo, LGU+ Ha Hyun-hoe) at the Government Complex Seoul to discuss the establishment of a nationwide 5G network by 2022.

The meeting, held on the 14th as the first meeting since the announcement of the 'Korean New Deal Comprehensive Plan,' discussed the construction of a 5G-based 'data highway' to support the 'digital new deal,' one of the pillars of the 'Korean New Deal.'

5G mobile communications are a key infrastructure for the "data highway." The "data dam" being built as part of the Digital New Deal project is expected to collect a vast amount of data. To process the data collected here using data analysis and AI technologies to create diverse services, including environmental, medical, public safety, and energy conservation services, a "data highway" must first be built, allowing data to flow freely.

At this meeting, the four major telecommunication companies (the three mobile carriers + SK Broadband) decided to invest approximately 24.5 to 25.7 trillion won (tentative) in wired and wireless communication infrastructure over three years (2020 to 2022) to expand 5G infrastructure.

The four companies plan to make every effort to build a 5G network in dong, eup, and myeon, multi-use facilities, and public infrastructure in 85 cities nationwide by the first half of 2022 at the earliest.

This year, to improve perceived quality in a short period of time, we will focus on building approximately 2,000 multi-use facilities in Seoul and six major metropolitan cities, subway lines 2 and 9 in the Seoul metropolitan area and other non-metropolitan areas, and 32 major sections of highways.

Next year, the plan is to build around 4,000 multi-use facilities (cumulative) in major administrative districts of 85 cities across the country, all subway and KTX/SRT railway stations, and around 20 highways.

In the year after next, we will build small and medium-sized multi-use facilities, railway stations such as the ITX Saemaeul train, and all highways, focusing on the administrative districts of 85 cities and major townships.

The government also decided to continue its efforts to support telecommunications companies' efforts to expand investment by offering incentives such as investment tax credits and base station registration license tax reductions. Furthermore, the government urged them to expand investment in 5G standalone (SA) mode and the 28GHz band to ensure the realization of performance features such as perfect ultra-high speeds and ultra-low latency.