South Korea is to introduce a blazing fast 5G mobile internet service, quick enough to download a full length feature film in less than a second.
While most of the world has yet to experience the improvements offered by 4G services, the technologically advanced country has announced a £900million in its successor.
South Korea’s science ministry said it aims to implement the technology, which is about 1,000 times faster than the 4G, within six years.
5G will allow users to download a 800-megabyte movie file in one second, compared with 40 seconds using 4G, the science ministry said, adding that such speeds would help South Korean firms win overseas deals.
A ministry spokesman said: ‘We helped fuel national growth with 2G services in the 1990s, 3G in the 2000s and 4G around 2010. Now it is time to take pre-emptive action to develop 5G.’
‘Countries in Europe, China and the US are making aggressive efforts to develop 5G technology … and we believe there will be fierce competition in this market in a few years,’ it said.
Under the roadmap, a trial 5G service will be rolled out in 2017 and a fully commercial service in December 2020.
Priority will be given to developing key features for the new network, including Ultra-HD and hologram transmission as well as cutting-edge social networking services.
Related industries will be able to rack up sales of 5G-related devices and infrastructure equipment worth 331 trillion won from 2020 to 2026, the ministry estimated.
