<Anchor> The



number of mobile communication 5G subscribers is expected to exceed 20 million within this year. However, users still complain that the price is high but the quality is poor. Carriers have installed only 0.3% of the equipment they promised so far.



Correspondent Kim Ki-tae reports.



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At the time of commercializing 5G for the first time in the world, the government and mobile carriers publicized that they would implement 20 times faster speed than LTE.



It has been three years since then, but users are still frequently disconnected and switched to LTE, complaining.



[Byeongmin Jeon / 5G user: It seems to occur more frequently than when using 4G, and I feel that it is rather slow.]



[Jung-hwan Lee / 5G user: I feel that 5G does not explode as I go to the center rather than the outer wall of the building.]



Currently, 5G from 3 mobile carriers This is because the service uses the LTE network together in the 3.5GHz frequency.



To get 20 times faster speed, you need to apply a standalone mode that uses only 5G in the 28GHz frequency band.



Commercializing 28GHz is why it is called 'real 5G'.



In 2018, when the government allocated frequencies, the three telecommunication companies were obligated to build equipment for this purpose.



[Ryu Je-myung/Director of Radio Policy Bureau, Ministry of Science and ICT (May 2018): The 28GHz band is set to 100,000 units based on the number of equipment, and the duty to build 15% for 3 years has been imposed.]



Nevertheless, of the 45,215 28GHz 5G base station equipment that the three telecommunication companies need to build by the end of this year, only 161 or 0.3% are actually installed.



However, most of them are concentrated in the metropolitan area, and there are none in Busan, Ulsan, Gangwon, Jeonnam, and Jeju.



The Ministry of Science and ICT sent out an official letter urging the implementation four times, and the telecommunication companies did not even reply to it except once.



[Rep. Jeong-sook Yang/Independent (National Assembly and Defense): The Ministry of Science and ICT is running a desk administration without a single on-site inspection.] The



number of 5G subscribers paying high rates continues to increase, but the combined operating profit of the three mobile carriers is consistent with passive investment. has recorded an unprecedented boom, exceeding KRW 1 trillion for two consecutive quarters.



(Video coverage: Yoo Dong-hyuk, video editing: Yoon Tae-ho)