South Korea, the first country in the world to commercialize 5G, ranks third in network speed

Statistics from OpenSignal, a British network quality evaluation agency, show that as of the end of June, there are currently eight countries in the world that have commercialized 5G. The United States has the fastest Internet speed, and South Korea, the first country to commercialize 5G, only ranked third.

Currently, the countries that have commercialized 5G are the United States, South Korea, Switzerland, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Spain. According to the Korean media "MoenyS", the United States, which ranks first, has a 5G network speed that is 2.7 times faster than LTE, and the actual maximum 5G download speed felt by users is 1815Mbps, far exceeding LTE's 678Mbps. Switzerland, which ranks second, has a 5G speed of 1145Mbps, 2.6 times that of LTE (443Mbps).

South Korea ranked third with a score of 1071Mbps, and its 5G network speed is only 1.7 times that of LTE. The survey pointed out that South Korea's LTE network speed is about 619Mbps, which is slower than Australia and the United States.

What’s special is that there are also countries where 5G speeds are slower than LTE. For example, Australia, which ranks fourth, has an LTE speed of 950Mbps, but a 5G speed of only 792Mbps. The next countries to rank second are the UAE (665Mbps), Italy (657Mbps), Spain (602Mbps), and the United Kingdom (569Mbps).

Experts explained that each country uses different 5G bandwidths, and the network speed performance is also different. For example, the United States, which has the fastest network speed, uses an ultra-high frequency bandwidth of 24GHz to 100GHz, while South Korea uses a medium frequency of 2 to 4GHz. In comparison, although it is easier to build coverage areas in South Korea, it will greatly reduce network speed performance. South Korean TV station "KBS" also pointed out that the high-frequency wavelength used by the United States is only a few millimeters, also known as millimeter waves, and most countries use medium frequency bands.

The results have caused many Korean media and netizens to reflect that although South Korea is the first country to commercialize 5G, it may still be some distance away from becoming a communications powerhouse. People in the Korean telecommunications industry analyzed that theoretically, the Internet speed in the United States can be about 8 times faster than that in South Korea, and that South Korea has many buildings and communication blind spots, which is why such a survey result was obtained.