In May 2019, Huawei would establish the first 5G service and development center in Seoul.
South Korean Media Heraldcorp reported on Apr 22, 2019, that GUO Ping (郭平), the chairman-in-office of Huawei, said that in May 2019, Huawei would establish the first 5G service and development center in Seoul. According to Heraldcrop, this 5G service and development center in South Korea aims to specifically help the consumers and enterprises in South Korea to experience the 5G technology and develop the related services.
Currently, among the 3 telecom carriers in South Korea, only LG U+ uses the Huawei’s LTE and 5G facilities. GUO Ping talked about the possibility to cooperate with SK Telecom and KT. According to GUO, the SK Telecom and KT are important partners in South Korea. Due to the leading position of Huawei in the 5G facilities, if there’s an opportunity, Huawei is willing to provide good service and products to them. GUO also said that whether and when to provide the equipment and service is dependent on the telecom companies. Huawei is playing like the best products and service provider and will keep working hard to help with the success of its customers.
According to Heraldcorp, previously, Huawei showed that it would establish the 5G developing center, and will cooperate with local companies in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. So far, Huawei has provided its 5G facilities to more than 40 countries in the world. On the other hand, South Korea is the country that has the fastest speed of the arrangement of the 5G network and is accelerating the construction of 5G base stations. Huawei entered the South Korean market since 2007 and offered 4G facilities for LG U+. Plus, Huawei purchased more than USD 10 billion products from Samsung and SK.
The 5G base station arranged by Huawei for the LG U+ will provide a continuing 5G network. In Gangnam district, the average Internet speed exceeded 900Mbps. South Korea did the first 5G operation in the world, and in 2019, Korea Telecom, SK and LG would invest KRW 3 trillion (CNY 18 billion) on the development of the 5G network. On Apr 5, 2019, South Korea’s 3 telecom carriers announced to publish the commercial-used 5G service to normal consumers. Currently, LG U+ uses Huawei’s 4G LTE and 5G SA base station facilities in Seoul and its surrounding areas. According to Korea’s Ministry of Information and Communication, by the start of April, LG U+ has settled 11.8 thousand 5G base stations in South Korea, which 11.1 thousand of them are located in Seoul and surrounding areas.
According to people familiar with the matter, the Chinese facilities have a 20% lower price compared with the other countries. The 5G base station, due to its more advanced technology, has a higher price which may make Chinese products more competitive. For South Korea, which wants to gain a leading position in 5G time, purchasing Chinese facilities and equipment would be a reasonable choice.