The Republic of Korea's mobile carriers will likely invest more than 10 trillion won (9.36 billion USD) in the fifth-generation network technology this year in a bid to lay a firm foundation for the high-end service, according to the RoK news agency Yonhap.

RoK firms set to invest 9.36 bln USD in 5G tech (Illustrative image. Source internet)

The Ministry of Science and ICT and three mobile carries -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Inc. -- have plans to start commercial operations of the 5G network in 2019 and build nationwide infrastructure by 2020, Yonhap cited industry sources.

The companies will make investment in the coming three or four years to run faster and more stable data processing than the current 4G network, or long-term evolution (LTE).
Park Jung-ho, the head of SK Telecom, the RoK's No 1 mobile carrier, said that for 5G network service, the company has to establish cell towers five times denser than those for the LTE.  It expects 10 trillion won for the 5G tech.

(Source: VNA)