As South Korea, China top Asia-Pacific internet speeds, can ‘very proud’ 5G roll-out extend to rest of region?

Name: South Korean designer invents ‘third eye’ to keep smartphone addicts safe while walking
Uploaded: 2023-06-08T09:23:54.000Z
Duration: 1 min 47 s
Description: South Korean designer invents ‘third eye’ to keep smartphone addicts safe while walking

Some nations in Asia such as Singapore and Thailand have strong governmental support in rolling out 5G networks, while others like Indonesia do not

The high cost of deployment also makes it hard for poorer nations such as Bangladesh to justify the returns on a 5G investment – let alone 6G

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Office workers look at their mobile phones in Seoul. South Korea and China have some of the highest internet speeds in Asia. Photo: Reuters

Su-Lin Tanin Singapore

Published: 5:23pm, 8 Jun 2023Updated: 2:15pm, 13 Jun 2023

If you’re in Beijing, Shanghai or Seoul, you’re likely to have easy access to some of the highest internet speeds in the Asia-Pacific with 5G, as will those in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.

But there remains some way to go before the rest of the region can enjoy similarly speedy web surfing, with 5G infrastructure development still lagging in nations such as Indonesia and Bangladesh, experts at the four-day Asia Tech x Singapore expo said.

The 5G network provides users with high-speed mobile internet, and while inroads have been made to get 5G on every device and handset in the region, progress has been varied.

“Asia should be very proud of its 5G deployment with some very rapid outreach and capacity markets. South Korea, China, and India now are very much on the roll. Australia already has 80 per cent coverage,” said Magnus Ewerbring, Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson’s Asia-Pacific chief technology officer, at the expo on Wednesday.

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South Korean designer invents ‘third eye’ to keep smartphone addicts safe while walking

Singapore has a regulatory framework that allows innovation in 5G development but there are countries such as Indonesia that do not yet have strong roll-outs, Ewerbring said.