The Ministry of Science and ICT held opening ceremony for pilot public 5G Wi-Fi service in intra-city buses on Wed. in front of the Nat‘l Assembly. (Yonhap)
Public Wi-Fi provided in intra-city buses will be getting four times faster as it will be upgraded to 5G network service from the current LTE.
Starting with 100 pilot buses, which started boasting faster connections on Wednesday, 29,000 buses nationwide will have 5G connections by 2023, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.
The speed of Wi-Fi currently available on public buses has a maximum speed of 100Mbps as it relies on LTE networks. It will increase to 400Mbps with the rollout of 5G.
The pilot service will go on until Dec. 26 during which the government will inspect safety, quality and usage of the service.
The government plans to conduct the network upgrade on a total of 29,100 intra-city buses nationwide for the next two years.
The Ministry of Science and ICT also plans to provide public Wi-Fi to 16,000 public facilities such as libraries, health centers and parks.
They also decided to gradually interlock Wi-Fi access point established by local governments with the public Wi-Fi management center managed by the ministry.
Minister of Science and ICT Lim Hye-sook added, “I hope that citizens can use faster and more convenient public Wi-Fi services, and that Korea becomes a digital inclusive powerhouse where all citizens enjoy a high-speed internet environment without discrimination.”
