China, Japan, and Korea enter 5G Alliance

The ICT ministers of South Korea, Japan and China have jointly agreed to collaborate on the standardization of 5G technology.

Korean minister for science and ICT Yoo Young-min, Chinese minister for industry and information technology Miao Wei and Japanese minister for internal affairs and communications Yoo Young-min convened last week to discuss ways to promote cooperation in communications policies and regulations, Pulse News reported.

The meeting marked the first ministerial meeting between the three countries in seven years, and the sixth overall.

The ministers agreed to collaborate on accelerating the commercialization of 5G technology, reducing roaming fees between the three countries and facilitating the deployment of 5G and other advanced technologies for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

At the summit, more than 200 government and business leaders from the three countries also agreed to cooperate on the development of emerging technologies including 5G, IoT and AI.

Meanwhile Korea’s ICT ministry has set today as the deadline for applications to participate in South Korea’s first 5G auction, Yonhap News reported.

The nation’s three mobile operators SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus are expected to all apply to participate in the auction, which is scheduled to commence next Friday. Spectrum in both the 3.5-GHz and 28-GHz bands will be put on the block. – Telecom Asia