KT announced on the 11th that it plans to open 100,000 WiFi APs (Access Points) nationwide to the entire population in August.

WiFi will be made available primarily in locations with high data usage that are closely related to daily life and have high foot traffic, such as ▲convenience facilities (convenience stores, department stores, hypermarkets, bus stops, subway stations, terminals, gas stations, etc.), ▲tourist attractions (squares, parks), and ▲sports and cultural facilities (performance halls, theaters, bookstores).

According to wireless data traffic statistics from the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, WiFi traffic in April 2017 was approximately 14,108 TB, nearly doubling over three years compared to 7,309 TB in April 2014, indicating steady demand for WiFi from users.

KT’s opening of 100,000 access points marks the largest-ever opening of its WiFi infrastructure, allowing not only KT customers but also customers of other carriers to enjoy the WiFi services provided by KT. Customers of other carriers will be able to use one hour of free WiFi after watching an advertisement for a certain period (5 to 15 seconds) when connecting to a KT WiFi AP. Specific instructions on how to use this service will be announced via Olleh.com (www.olleh.com) and other channels in August.



KT plans to complete all necessary preparations by August to prevent quality degradation in anticipation of increased users, including concentrating capacity expansion in high-traffic areas and inspecting aging equipment. In particular, the company plans to increase the number of GiGA WiFi units from the current level of 80,000 to 100,000 by the end of the year. GiGA WiFi provides twice the coverage, 17 times the number of simultaneous users (512 simultaneous users), and gigabit speeds that are three times faster than standard WiFi.

Meanwhile, KT proposed cooperation to China Mobile and NTT Docomo, the leading telecommunications companies in China and Japan, respectively, at the Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement (SCFA) general assembly held in Chengdu, China, last May, and is currently pursuing a plan to provide free WiFi roaming services among Korea, China, and Japan within the year. It has already provided automatic WiFi roaming between Korea and Japan and a free WiFi roaming promotion among the three companies from September last year to February this year.

If China Mobile and NTT Docomo accept KT's proposal, KT customers will be able to use the WiFi infrastructure built by both companies in China and Japan without separate registration or entering IDs and passwords. China Mobile has approximately 4.5 million WiFi access points, while NTT Docomo has about 180,000.

"We have launched the nationwide opening of 100,000 WiFi APs and free WiFi roaming services in Korea, China, and Japan for customers who have been struggling between continuously increasing wireless data usage and the burden of communication costs," said Kang Kuk-hyun, Head of Marketing at KT. "Going forward, we will continue to explore various ways to support the government's Public WiFi 2.0 initiative to reduce household communication costs and enable customers to enjoy a burden-free mobile life."