South Korea’s reputation as the world’s first commercial 5G connectivity has hit a snag due to a growing controversy over its network quality.

LG Electronics and the country’s three mobile carriers - SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus - are now mulling to push back the pre-order opening for the manufacture’s 5G smartphone, the LG V50 ThinQ, from Apr. 19 to Apr. 22 and the official sale date from Apr. 19 to Apr. 26, according to sources on Monday.

They are said to be focusing on improving the 5G connection quality before the phone’s new launching date.

Although they did not disclose exact reasons for the delay, many speculate it is because of mounting complaints of slow connection speed and poor service quality from 5G customers who use Samsung’s Galaxy S10, the only 5G smartphone available in the Korean market.

LG Electronics confirmed that it had received a request for additional optimization work from the telecom companies because network equipment and the connectivity with terminal need to be tested to increase data speed. The company said it is going all out to improve communication quality in cooperation with Qualcomm, the main supplier of smartphone 5G modem chips.

Driven by attractive telco offers for migration, the number of 5G subscribers now nears 150,000 after ten days of the service launch in Korea. However, consumer complaints are escalating due to weak signal connection even in highly touted hot spot areas for 5G communication such as Gangnam, Myeongdong and Hongdae, and slower data speed than the existing LTE network.

Samsung Electronics is working on software updates but consumer complaints never let up.

By Shin Chan-ok and Minu Kim

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]