South Korean telecommunications company KT has signed roaming agreements with three European operators — Italy’s TIM, Switzerland’s Sunrise, and Finland’s Elisa — enabling KT’s 5G subscribers to access those operators’ 5G networks while traveling in Europe.
KT already maintains roaming arrangements for 3G and LTE with carriers in 185 countries and is preparing to extend those agreements to 5G as soon as 5G services are available in each market. Prior to these European deals, KT reached a similar agreement with China Mobile, although services under that arrangement have not yet launched.
For the initial 5G roaming rollout, KT will offer several price tiers. The KRW 55,000 per month plan provides 8 GB of international roaming data. A KRW 80,000 per month plan offers unlimited international roaming data, while a premium plan priced at KRW 130,000 per month delivers a higher speed allocation for users who need faster performance.
KT’s 5G subscriber base surpassed one million within five months of launching the service, reflecting rapid adoption of the next-generation network. KT is not alone in achieving this milestone in South Korea: SK Telecom reached one million 5G subscribers shortly before KT, following its own roaming partnership with Switzerland’s Swisscom.
Park Hyun-jin, Managing Director of KT’s 5G Business Division, said that KT is leading the roaming market with its “Super Plan,” which the company promoted as the industry’s first unlimited data plan available at the commercial launch of 5G. He added that KT intends to continue expanding 5G roaming coverage to additional travel destinations.
Initially, only KT customers using the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G will be able to access the 5G roaming service in Europe, but KT plans to make the roaming capability available on additional devices in the near future.
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