Korean operator KT is buying a bunch of 5G NR kit and software to help it launch 5G commercially in a few weeks’ time.

It has been a decent week for Ericsson’s 5G sales team, with TDC in Denmark also signing on the dotted line. This latest win is the first commercial deal resulting from Ericsson being chosen as a 5G supplier late last year. They’ve presumably been working on this for a while, since the launch is so imminent, but KT only just gave Ericsson the green light to go public about it.

“Having worked successfully with Ericsson on 4G LTE, we are pleased to continue that partnership to make our 5G ambitions a reality with Ericsson’s leading 5G technology,” said Jinho Choi, VP of Access Network Design at KT. “By taking a global lead to enable nationwide commercial 5G services through commercially available 5G smartphones, KT is demonstrating our commitment to our customers and showing how we can drive a global 5G ecosystem where Korea plays a key role.”

“We’ve worked with KT for many years to bring the very best mobile user experiences to its customers,” said Patrick Johansson, Head of Ericsson Korea. “Notably on 5G, we worked closely together to show the world what 5G could do during a major global winter sports event in 2018. With 5G we aim to help KT to take their customers’ experiences to new levels, whether through enhanced mobile broadband for mobile subscribers, or helping to make national and global IoT and Industry 4.0 opportunities a reality for enterprises and industries.”

Specifically this gig concerns KT’s 3.5 GHz Non-Standalone (NSA) network. Korea is set to be the first country to offer some form of 5G nationwide on a commercial basis, although how many people will be able to make use of 3.5 GHz spectrum remains to be seen. In practice this is likely to be a Seoul thing, but it’s nonetheless an additional win for Ericsson to be associated with it.