5G Technology: The countries that will be first to adapt to this new technology

As we all know that 5G network technology is under development and research by most of the countries in the world. However, some countries have made the significant process and managed to deploy the 5G network, not completely commercially but they got successful in launching the technology. According to the experts, it will take almost a decade for such countries to fully equip the technology.

Let’s find out those countries that will be the first to adapt to the 5G network and their progress on this incredible technology.

Let me first be clear about which was the first country to launch the 5G technology is a debate and depends on who you’re asking this question. However, the statements made in this article are a combined conclusion from the sources.

South Korea

South Korea is considered among the first countries to launch the 5G network. They launched the first 5G mobile network nationwide back in April 2019. According to the reports by 2025, 60% of the mobile devices are expected to be 5G phones in South Korea.

It is clear that the virtual war of the US and China, South Korea reaches the finishing line first!

In South Korea, three operators launched 5G technology which are SK Telecom, KT Corp., and LG Uplus in the major cities of the country. These Korean mobile carriers are also planning to commercialize and diversify this new technology by introducing the versions like standalone versions of the 5G networks and millimeter-wave 5G.

From the customer’s point of view, 15 percent of total mobile connections in the country are converted to 5G phones, crossing the 9 million overall connections mark. South Korea is ready for the deployment of 115,000 base stations by operators that support 5G wireless technology. South Korea has rolled out 5G technology to 85 cities in the last year.     

United States

The United States is always the one that comes up first in all the upcoming technologies. Similarly, there was a virtual war between China and the USA which will be the first country to launch the 5G technology.

When launching the 5G wireless technology in USA, an AT&T spokesperson said “Being first is important in our industry and we want that recognition,”

In the USA, T-Mobile US became the first telecom agency in the world to launch an SA 5G network with a 5G core in August 2020. Also, AT&T and Verizon are among the competing companies working on commercializing the 5G wireless technology in the US.

Earlier the former president, Donald Trump tweeted about the launching of 5G in US

“I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind,”

China 

China was also in the race of launching the 5G technology first. However, China officially launched 5G on November 1st, 2020. Huawei and China Telecom Shenzhen jointly contributed to the launching of 5G. They introduced the world’s first pilot site that binds 5G Super Uplink and downlink carrier aggregation (CA).

In China, Shenzhen is one of those few and first cities where 5G deployment is fully completed. The mayor of the city said in a recent industry event that the city had deployed 46,480 5G base stations. Also, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, the state-owned carriers are rolling out their 5G data services across the country. Currently, they are covering 50 different cities where 5G wireless technology is available and operating.

According to some reports, China has launched the biggest 5G network system if we compare it with the US, South Korea, and all other countries that are launching 5G technology.

Other notable countries

It can be seen that South Korea, the United States, and China are the countries that lead the world in developing and deploying 5G wireless technology.

According to the reports, around 41 countries had 5G networks as of Feb and many more have had 5G mobile technology deployed in major cities of the countries. The following are the list of some of those countries,

• Saudia Arab
• Sweden
• Turkey
• Estonia
• Australia
• Major European Countries
• Canada
• Brazil
• South Africa

Verdict

Almost every country in the world is working hard to bring this amazing technology to their cities. Besides the mentioned countries, other countries are also investing millions of dollars to commercialize the 5G network. Countries in South Asia and the Middle East are currently in the phase of developing the 5G technology but they will launch it soon. In short, it will roughly take a decade to completely replace the 4G phones with 5G phones and make 5G available to everyone.