S. Korea's 5G users top 9 million in Sept.: data

SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's 5G subscribers exceeded 9 million in September, data showed Monday.

The number of 5G subscribers stood at 9.25 million as of the end of September, up 590,643 from the previous month, according to data from the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The latest figure accounted for 13.2 percent of the country's mobile subscriptions totaling 70.2 million.

The country commercially rolled out the latest-generation network in April 2019.

The 4G network still accounted for a larger share of total mobile subscriptions at 77 percent with 54.3 million users, down about 200,000 from the previous month.

Subscriptions on the 3G network were at 6.1 million in September, accounting for 8.6 percent of the total.

Analysts expect new 5G phones, such as the iPhone 12 released late last month here, to boost subscriptions on the highest-speed network.

"We expect 5G users to reach 11.09 million by the end of this year," said Park Jung-won, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities. "Just the preorders for the new iPhone 12 models reached over 500,000."

The new iPhone 12 and the higher-end Pro model went on preorder Oct. 23 for the local market before their official launch Friday.

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
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