Samsung and KT Corporation have announced they successfully achieved 1 Gbps speeds over the air on KT’s commercial 5G network.
KT plans to launch its 5G commercial service in spring 2019. The company also confirmed that by the end of March 2019 its 5G network will support mobile service for end users across 85 cities nationwide, including the Seoul metropolitan area.
KT says this rollout will extend 5G coverage along major national highways and high-speed rail lines (KTX and SRT) that link cities. Over time the network will also expand to cover 464 colleges and universities, subway lines, key landmark buildings and certain mountainous areas.
Chang-Seok Seo, Executive Vice President of the Network Strategy Unit and Network Group at KT, commented: “KT has demonstrated industry-leading technical capability through our 5G trial services in PyeongChang, which accelerated early 5G commercialization. Building on our technical expertise and years of 5G development, KT will keep expanding the national 5G network to deliver differentiated services to our customers in partnership with Samsung.”
Jaeho Jeon, Executive Vice President and Head of R&D for Samsung Electronics’ Networks Business, said the two companies will continue close collaboration to push the boundaries of current technology and showcase the transformative possibilities of 5G.
Earlier this month, SK Telecom reported that during the final phase of its 5G tests it achieved very high download speeds using a Samsung Galaxy S10. In those trials the companies measured peak download speeds up to 2.7 Gbps.
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