en.Wedoany.com Reported - South Korea's LG U+ is expanding its pre-commercial network testing of 5G Standalone (SA) to a nationwide scale, aiming to enhance stability through continuous testing and ensure a smooth commercial rollout of 5G SA in the second half of the year.

According to sources in South Korea's telecommunications industry, LG U+ is conducting 5G SA commercial testing using its nationwide network. The company is deploying SA in major regions across the country through software and hardware upgrades, while verifying service operations and signal blind spot connectivity. The devices currently in use are not ordinary consumer smartphones but test terminals supporting SA functionality. Once commercial service begins, terminal manufacturers will provide firmware updates for supported models, allowing regular users to access the service directly.

5G SA relies solely on 5G base stations and the 5G core network to provide services. Unlike Non-Standalone (NSA), which uses both LTE and 5G, SA requires both the terminal and the base station to activate SA functionality for access. After resolving various issues through test terminals, LG U+ is expected to officially launch 5G SA services in the fourth quarter, with the exact timing subject to adjustments based on network quality and terminal firmware readiness.

Building on its existing 5G SA core network, LG U+ has concurrently advanced network capacity expansion and equipment preparation required for commercial deployment. The first batch of supported terminals will start with the latest smartphones and gradually expand to already-released models. An LG U+ representative stated: "With the goal of commercializing 5G SA within this year, we are conducting tests nationwide and making preparations."

Previously, KT has already commercialized 5G SA and covered its entire network. SK Telecom is also conducting 5G SA testing but has not disclosed specific scale or progress stages. Industry insiders believe that, based on past experiences with LTE and 5G commercial launches, there will be no preemptive competition among the three operators, as government policies promoting 5G SA encourage coordinated commercial preparations.

South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT plans to complete the 5G SA transition for the three major operators within the year, laying the foundation for innovative services. In February of this year, the ministry established a 5G SA promotion task force, including members from SK Telecom, KT, LG U+, Samsung Electronics, as well as academia and research institutions. The task force is dedicated to minimizing service disruptions and quality degradation during the transition, and to discussing the discovery of SA-based innovative services and institutional improvement plans.

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