South Korean cellcos and government form task force to boost rural 5G coverage

A new taskforce has been launched by South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the country’s three mobile network operators (MNOs) – SK Telecom, KT Corp and LG Uplus – with a view to helping expand 5G coverage into rural areas. According to Yonhap News Agency the initiative aims to enable network sharing between the three cellcos in areas of low population density. Each MNO will reportedly roll out infrastructure in a designated area, with access to this then being opened up to the other two operators, once a final agreement regarding the terms of network sharing has been reached (expected within the next six months). Notably, the MSIT has claimed the development represents the first time that the three MNOs will work together on a national level to share network infrastructure.