South Korea mandates 5G Standalone to prepare for AI and 6G
Regulators offer fee cuts to operators that deploy more than 20,000 indoor 5G base stations.
More than 70 operators worldwide are moving to 5G SA to unlock new monetization capabilities, according to Dell’Oro Group
The South Korean government mandated 5G standalone (5G SA) upgrades for national operators as networks prepare to transition to AI radios, 5 G Advanced software upgrades, and eventually, 6G.
Director Nam Young-jun of the Ministry of Science and ICT's frequency policy division said during a briefing on spectrum reallocation in Seoul that 5G base stations must be connected to 5G standalone core equipment in 2026.
Currently, the only Korean operator that has moved to 5G SA is KT, which moved early to 5G SA in June 2021 with 5G gear from Samsung. According to the latest December 2025 report from OpenSignal, KT offers the fastest 5G download speed in the country.
The other major South Korean operators, SK Telecom and LG U+, are still using a 5G radio network controlled by a 4G core. The LTE control plane on the 5G non-standalone (NSA) network sets up capabilities such as data sessions via the 4G core.
"The mandatory transition to 5G SA proceeds on the premise that operators are willing to pursue it voluntarily, and if it is not implemented, we will take administrative measures such as corrective orders," Young-jun said during his briefing.
Improved indoor coverage
Better indoor 5G coverage is a motivating factor for the government’s decision to mandate a move to 5G SA. The Ministry of Science said it will reduce LTE reallocation fees if operators meet goal numbers for indoor 5G base stations.
"If operators build more than 20,000 indoor 5G base stations, the final reallocation fee for LTE frequencies will drop to about 2.9 trillion won," director Young-jun said, reducing the fees by more than 15%.
The global move to 5G SA
Mobile core network market revenue was up 14% year-on-year for the third quarter of 2025 outside of China, according to Dell’Oro Group. “MNOs are moving forward with 5G SA (72 in our last count) and moving forward to take advantage of monetization opportunities,” noted Dell’Oro research director Dave Bolan in a statement.
As Fierce has reported before, operators will have to have a 5G SA core in place in order to move to 5G-Advanced, a transition which is now under way, and to update to 6G in the 2030 timeframe.