South Korea Forces Telecom Operators to Upgrade 5G Independent Networking by 2026

The South Korean government has introduced a mandatory policy to accelerate the country’s transition to artificial intelligence (AI) radios, 5G Advanced software upgrades, and even future 6G networks. Nam Young jun, Director of the Frequency Policy Department of the Ministry of Science and Information Technology of South Korea, announced at a spectrum reallocation briefing in Seoul that domestic telecom operators are required to connect all 5G base stations to 5G independent network core equipment by 2026. This move aims to completely bid farewell to the current transitional form of controlling 5G wireless access networks with 4G core networks.

Currently, among the major telecommunications operators in South Korea, only KT joined hands with Samsung devices to complete the migration to 5G SA in June 2021. According to the latest report released by OpenSignal in December 2025, KT offers the fastest 5G download speed in South Korea. However, the other two major operators, SK Telecom and LG U+, still use a non independent networking mode for their 5G networks, where the 5G radio network is controlled by the 4G core network and data sessions and other capabilities still need to be established through the 4G core network.

Director Nam Young jun made it clear at the briefing that “the mandatory transition to 5G SA requires voluntary participation from operators, but if it is not implemented, we will take administrative measures such as corrective orders.” This demonstrates the government’s determination to promote the upgrade of network infrastructure.

Policy incentives: promoting indoor coverage through cost reduction and exemption

Improving indoor 5G coverage quality is an important driving force behind the government’s decision to mandate the implementation of 5G SA. In order to encourage operators to build indoor networks, the Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology announced that if operators achieve the goal of building indoor 5G base stations, they will receive a reduction in LTE spectrum reallocation fees.

Director Nam Young jun specifically stated that “if operators build more than 20000 indoor 5G base stations, the final cost of LTE frequency reallocation will be reduced to approximately 2.9 trillion Korean won.” This discount will reduce costs by over 15%, providing practical economic incentives for operators.

Global trend: 5G SA becomes a necessary path for evolution

This measure by South Korea is not an isolated incident, but part of the global trend of mobile network evolution. According to data from Dell’Oro Group, revenue in the mobile core network market outside of China increased by 14% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025. Dave Bolan, the research director of the group, stated in a statement that “mobile network operators are advancing 5G SA (we recently counted 72) and taking advantage of new profit opportunities.”

As previously reported by media outlets such as Fierce, operators must have a 5G SA core network in order to smoothly transition to the ongoing 5G Advanced phase and prepare for upgrading to 6G networks in the 2030s. 5G independent networking is seen as unleashing key capabilities such as network slicing and ultra-low latency, thereby empowering industrial IoT and immersion.