The number of 5G users of South Korea's three major operators has increased, but the network quality has received a lot of complaints

According to data released by market tracker FnGuide on Monday, the total operating profit of South Korea's three major mobile operators in the fourth quarter is expected to achieve a double-digit increase to 813.5 billion won (about 4.34 billion yuan), of which SK Telecom is expected to be 342.6 billion won, KT is expected to be 253.6 billion won, and LG U+ is expected to be 217.3 billion won.

Experts said the profit increase was mainly due to the growth in the number of 5G service users. According to data provided by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the number of 5G users of South Korea's three major mobile operators was 201.8 million as of November last year.

Data shows that 27.8% of mobile service users in South Korea currently use 5G networks. Lee Seung-woong, an analyst at eBest Investment Securities, said: "As 5G users continue to increase, mobile operators' profits are expected to increase. In addition, the three companies have saved expenses by avoiding excessive marketing competition."

Despite the strong user numbers, there are increasing complaints from users about the quality of 5G services. Due to insufficient 5G network coverage, many users often have to switch from 5G to 4G signals during use.

According to a recent survey of 1,000 5G users by the local non-governmental organization Consumer Voice, Korean consumers received an average of 60.9G of 5G data packages from mobile operators, but the actual data usage was 31.1G. The survey showed that users did not use up 100% of their data packages due to insufficient 5G network coverage and lack of interesting content.

The main reason for 5G network quality issues is the insufficient deployment of base stations. Due to the frequency used by 5G networks, it is difficult for radio waves to bypass obstacles, which requires mobile operators to deploy more base stations to provide high-quality 5G services.

In addition, South Korea's three major mobile operators have slowed down their investment in network infrastructure construction. As of the third quarter of 2021, the three companies' total network infrastructure investment was 4.5 trillion won, down 9.9% from the same period in 2020.

Regarding the quality of 5G networks, South Korean ICT Minister Lim Hye-sook has met with the CEOs of three companies and asked them to "expand network facility investment and improve 5G network quality." The CEOs of these companies responded that they would maintain a similar level of infrastructure investment as in 2020.