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SK Telecom, South Korea’s leading mobile operator, has recently released a white paper that critically evaluates the performance of 5G technology. According to the document named “Lessons Learned from 5G, Key 6G Requirements, 6G Network Evolution and 6G Spectrum,” 5G did not live up to the hype and failed to meet the initial expectations.

Originally, 5G was hailed as a groundbreaking technology with the potential to enable various applications, including autonomous driving, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), augmented reality (AR), and digital twins. However, these areas of development have faced challenges due to device limitations, technological immaturity, lack of market demand, and regulatory concerns.

While some of the goals outlined by the International Telecommunication Union’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) for 5G have been achieved, many are still far from completion. This disparity has created inflated expectations among consumers who anticipated a significant technological leap similar to the transition from 3G to LTE. However, 5G has primarily offered incremental improvements to existing technology, which might not be noticeable to users.

Despite these criticisms, the white paper acknowledges certain advantages of 5G. SK Telecom has observed a 70% reduction in data costs per gigabyte compared to LTE, and 5G users consume 50% more data than those on previous generation networks.

The document emphasizes the importance of learning from the shortcomings of 5G when developing the upcoming 6G technology, expected to debut in 2030. SK Telecom advocates for collaboration among all stakeholders in the ecosystem to avoid repeating past mistakes. This collaborative approach could potentially lead to a wider range of use cases, improved spectrum management, and simplified architectural options for 6G.

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