After it was reported back in October that as many as 6.5% of total 5G subscribers switched back to LTE due to dissatisfaction with fifth-generation services, it looks like South Korean operators may finally be making upgrades.

The second half of 2020 has seen South Korea’s 5G download speed and service quality improve. According to the official Ministry of Science and ICT data, the average download speed using the SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus networks went up to 690.47 Mbps in H2 of 2020, a change of 33.91 Mbps as compared to the first half. SK Telecom could boast the fastest average download speed of 795.57 Mbps, leaving the other operators far behind. KT recorded a speed of 667.48 Mbps, while LG UPlus – only 608.49 Mbps.

South Korea was the first country to roll out commercial 5G services back in April 2019, with its 5G user base expanding to 10 million in the first six months. That number represented 14% of the country’s 70 million total mobile subscribers. Shortly after, it was reported that more than 560,000 5G subscribers switched back to older technologies due to poor connectivity. It is worth noting that the current average 4G LTE download speeds in South Korea amount to 153.1 Mbps, which is a far worse result in comparison to the next generation of mobile networks.

Source: Telecompaper