Speed competition is once again coming to fruition. Technology competition is worsening among telecommunication carriers to preempt the 10Gbps era, which is 10 times faster than the current 1Gbps broadband speed in the domestic high-speed Internet market.

SK Broadband, on May 10, launched the 2.5Gbps high-speed Internet service, which increased the existing top speed by 2.5 times for the first time in Korea. The company plans to commercialize 5Gbps and 10Gbps high-speed Internet service in the second half of this year.

KT, earlier, launched a 10Gbps trial service at the 10th Giga Arena (10Gbps Arena), a 10Gbps high-speed Internet experience space in Afreeca TV Open Studio in Songpa-gu, Seoul. The company aims to commercialize 10Gbps high-speed Internet service nationwide this September.

10Gbps broadband internet is 10 times faster than existing gigabyte internet and it can be used stably for 5G mobile communication (5G), high quality broadcasting, hologram, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are core foundation.

In fact, it is a matter of pride that a service provider starts a service first. As a result, it is expected that there will be a fierce nervous battle over who will first commercialize 10Gbps broadband Internet in the second half of this year. As the next generation mobile communication service, 5G, becomes commercialized in the first half of next year, 10Gbps high-speed Internet becomes more meaningful in the fixed-line market as virtual reality, augmented reality, and autonomous mobile cars become more popular. SK Broadband is aiming to become the first company in Korea to launch 10Gbps, starting with 2.5Gbps. As it is ahead of 2.5Gbps commercialization, 10Gbps commercialization will be accelerated according to market reaction.

Even KT, which is the number one broadband internet market, has got a lot of pride. The company plans to commercialize 10Gbps Internet in the first half of the nation`s optical infrastructure in September. The company has invested KRW 4.9 trillion in gigabyte internet since 2014 and plans to invest more than KRW 500 billion over the next three years.

LG U Plus is also looking into the market situation and considering the commercialization of 10Gbps broadband Internet. LG U Plus developed a Home 10G Internet solution with its domestic equipment manufacturer last December. Currently, technical preparations are underway including on-site verification of 10G-PON technology.

There are many mountains to overcome despite 10Gbps high-speed internet competition of cable carriers is getting strong. The 10Gbps service is only possible when the optical cable in the building is installed. The existing LAN cable cannot accept 10Gbps Internet technology. "To support 10Gbps Internet, we need to install fiber optic cable because it is not possible to support 10Gbps Internet, so if you are not in a building, you need to replace it with a fiber optic cable" He said.

It is also necessary to pay about ten times the terminal cost in terms of consumers. There is no killer content that customers can experience right away. The Ministry of Science, Technology, and MIC also plans to cooperate to activate 10Gbps broadband Internet. The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) has set a goal of achieving a 50% Internet coverage of 10Gbps by March 2022.

By Kim Ji Young kjy@


[ copyright ⓒ The Digitaltimes ]