LG Uplus has fastest 5G download speed in S. Korea: report

SEOUL, Dec. 7 (Yonhap) -- LG Uplus Corp., a major South Korean telecom operator, has the fastest 5G download speed among South Korean mobile carriers, a report showed Monday.

The mobile carrier's median 5G download speed in Seoul stood at 476.5 megabits per second (Mbps), followed by the country's largest mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. at 436.2 Mbps and telecom giant KT Corp. at 425.8 Mbps, according to a report by market researcher RootMetrics,

RootMetrics added that LG Uplus had greater accessibility to 5G in the capital at 90.9 percent, compared with KT at 78.8 percent and SK Telecom at 71.3 percent during its testing from Sept. 15 to Oct. 12.

Accessibility to 5G measures how often a device is connected to 5G.

South Korea currently does not offer standalone 5G, requiring support from 4G LTE.

The market researcher noted that the new figures mark a vast improvement from a year earlier when South Korea was the first country to commercially roll out 5G.

According to RootMetrics, LG Uplus' median 5G download speed last year was at 426.4 Mbps, with SK Telecom at 286.9 Mbps and KT at 163 Mbps.

KT led 5G accessibility at the time at 45.6 percent, followed by LG Uplus at 44.6 percent and SK Telecom at 42.2 percent.

"5G performance in South Korea ... has shown huge improvement in a relatively short period of time," the report read.

As of end-October, South Korea had nearly 10 million 5G users, accounting for 14 percent of the country's total 70.3 million mobile subscriptions, according to government data.

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
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