KT and SKT take maximum bandwidths in 5G spectrum auction

By Park Sae-jin Posted : June 18, 2018, 18:21 Updated : June 18, 2018, 18:21

[Yonhap Photo]


SEOUL -- KT, South Korea's largest telecom company, and SK Telecom, the country's largest mobile carrier, won the maximum bandwidths in state auction bidding to grab the most ideal fifth-generation spectrum.

The Ministry of Science and ICT said the 5G spectrum auction, which began last Friday, ended on Monday with the total winning price of 3.6 trillion won ($3.2 billion), about one trillion won lower than the expected market value. KT and SK Telecom took 100MHz wavelengths each from the 3.5GHZ bandwidth and LG U+, the third-largest mobile carrier, took the remaining 80MHz wavelength. The 28GHz bandwidth was divided equally by 800MHz wavelengths to three mobile carriers.

The auction came on the heels of South Korea's aggressive push to commercialize a 5G mobile network ahead of China and any other countries in the country. Domestic mobile carriers are under pressure to establish a nationwide 5G network by 2020.

The 5G network, which is at least ten times faster than the current 4G network, is considered a vital part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution as it can transmit a large capacity of data fast for autonomous driving, the downloading of ultra-high quality video files and industries related to artificial intelligence (AI).

The science ministry put 52 blocks of the 5G spectrum on auction, dividing the 3.5GHz wavelength into 28 blocks and the 28GHz wavelength into 24. The frequency blocks can be utilized individually or coupled together to transfer data. The starting price for the 3.5GHz wavelength was set at 2.65 trillion won ($2.43 billion) and the 28GHz wavelength at 62.1 billion won.
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