South Korean telecom companies have agreed to share the costs of building a shared 5G network infrastructure.
It's expected to save close to a billion U.S. dollars over the next ten years and speed up the commercialization process of the technology.
Park Se-young has more.
Next-generation 5G networks use high frequencies to generate high speed connections, but they require up to 18 times the number of base stations than needed for 4G networks.
Korea's telecom companies and internet service providers will share the costs of building the infrastructure for a 5G network, …which they will then share the use of.
According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, this could save nearly 940 million U.S. dollars over the next ten years, …as it would prevent the companies from making redundant investments.
Details on the amount each firm will pay are set to be finalized within the first half of this year.
Other companies are set to pay KT, which has the highest number of facilities around the country, to share its essential equipment, such as electricity pylons, for network construction purposes.
Local governments and national facility management agencies were also ordered to provide equipment.

"An annual construction cost of 36 million U.S. dollars, …and up to 940 million dollars over the next ten years in investment costs can be saved."

According to the senior ministry official, Korea's goal is to lead the fourth industrial revolution and to support the early commercialization of 5G technology.
Park Se-young, Arirang News.