When it comes to advancement in mobile technology, South Korea has almost always been in the forefront. The country already offers one of the fastest broadband services in the world. Now the latest news is that South Korea’s science ministry is gearing up to invest big for developing the next big thing in mobile networking, the 5G technology. The government is apparently investing a massive amount of $1.5 billion (~RM 5 billion) into development of 5G technology, which would be than 10 times faster than the present 4G LTE technology that is currently available for mobile users in Malaysia and around the world.
(Note: Mashable claimed that the 5G technology would be 1,000 times faster than 4G LTE. However, we have no idea how Mashable concluded that 1,000 times multiple. 4G LTE has theoretical speeds of up to 100 Mbps. Maxis 4G LTE in Malaysia claims to achieve an average speed of between 10Mbps to 30Mbps for subscribers. Major 4G LTE wireless carriers in the United States also achieve an average speed of between 10Mbps to 30Mbps. Thus, this South Korean 5G network will likely be between 10 to 100 times faster than 4G LTE.)
SEE ALSO: What is the Best Broadband Service in Malaysia?
Download Movies in Seconds
Buffering, Streaming… words like these will soon be scarce in South Korea in the coming years, should the investment of Ministry of Science and Technology (MEST) turn out to be fruitful. The department announced its plans to invest in 5G technology earlier this month and wants to launch the technology by 2017 and make it available commercially by 2020. Once the technology is made available to the public, downloads would be more than 10 times faster than they are now with the 4G LTE network available in Malaysia. MEST is also planning to develop other 5G related features like hologram transmission, Ultra-HD streaming side-by-side.
Skepticism Around 5G Technology
Earlier in May 2013, Samsung also worked on 5G technology development and claimed to have produced signals with speed of 1.056 Gbps. These signals were accessible up to a distance of 1.2 miles or 2 kilometers. Samsung also plans to launch its 5G services by the year 2020.
Samsung revealed that it had used around 64 antennas during the testing phase, to overcome the problems with high frequencies, which are necessary for faster data transfer. The company, however, has not published any material regarding its research or testing, which has raised eyebrows in the west. Forbes magazine even criticized the company and stated that Samsung’s claims were vague and seemed exaggerated.
Reports also suggest that the EU has also been eyeing 5G technology development, to be launched in 2020.
RELATED:
- Which is the Fastest Internet Service in Malaysia?
- 67% of Malaysians Have Broadband Internet Access
- 4G LTE in Malaysia: A Faster Wireless Broadband
MALAYSIA GUIDES:
- What is the Best Mobile Service Provider in Malaysia?
- How to Choose the Best Smartphone in Malaysia
- What is the Best Broadband Service in Malaysia?
Source: Mashable and Telegraph
Photo Credit: Flickr / FutUndBeidl
"ExpatGo welcomes and encourages comments, input, and divergent opinions. However, we kindly request that you use suitable language in your comments, and refrain from any sort of personal attack, hate speech, or disparaging rhetoric. Comments not in line with this are subject to removal from the site. "
I can imagine the day when buffering will be antiquated like dial up is now. We’ll just be able to connect and stream anything seemingly instantly.