KT boasts of 1mn 5G subs and European roaming deals

KT has announced its 5G subscriber base has gone past the one million mark and it has entered into 5G roaming agreements with operators in Italy, Switzerland, and Finland.

KT, South Korea’s second largest operator, announced that it has won one million 5G subscribers five months after the service was launched, and one month after its competitor, SK Telecom, the country’s biggest operator, hit the milestone.

Meanwhile, KT has also reached 5G roaming agreements with TIM in Italy, Sunrise in Switzerland, and Elisa in Finland. This means that KT’s 5G subscribers will be able to use the 5G networks provided by those three operators in the three European countries.

KT has standing agreements with operators in 185 countries for 3G and LTE roaming. The operator aims to extend those agreements to 5G when 5G services go live in those countries. Prior to the agreements with the three European countries, KT had already set up a similar agreement with China Mobile, despite the fact it hasn’t launched services yet.

According to KT’s price proposals at the time of 5G launch, customers on the starting package (paying KRW 55,000, or $46 per month) will have 8 GB roaming data while overseas, with the speed capped at 1 Mbps. Those on higher tiers (paying KRW 80,000 ($67) or KRW 100,000 ($84) per month) will have unlimited roaming data, but the speed will be capped at 100 Kbps. Customers on the premium tier of the 5G service (KRW 130,000, or $109, per month) will have the speed limited lifted to 3 Mbps.

KT is not the first South Korean operator to tie 5G roaming partnerships. SK Telecom 5G subscribers will be able to connect to Swisscom while travelling in Switzerland, while those on LG U+ will be able to connect to China Unicom’s 5G when travelling to its neighbouring country, after the latter’s 5G service goes live.

The only catch for KT 5G users intending to visit Europe is that the roaming can only be done on Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, the vendor’s first 5G smartphone, though KT said the service will be extended to other devices soon. Earlier this month, at IFA in Berlin, Samsung announced that it had already sold 2 million 5G smartphones and expected to double the volume to 4 million by the end of the year.