South Korea is the leading country for 5G deployment in the 22 leading 5G countries analyzed for their deployment of 5G technology.
The OMDIA research assessed the deployment progress of 5G based on operator launches, network coverage, subscriber take-up as well as 5G spectrum availability and regulatory eco-system.

South Korea has established itself as the early market-leader for 5G technology deployment with Kuwait and Switzerland following behind.

South Korea is leading the way with adoption reaching 4.67 million subscribers at the end of December, which equates to about seven percent of wireless services in the market.

“Limited coverage, device availability and cautious launches have limited 5G take-up in other global markets,” said Stephen Myers, OMDIA Principal Analyst.

“However, expansive coverage rolled out by Sunrise and Swisscom in Switzerland, Ooredoo and Vodafone in Qatar and Kuwait’s three service providers has rivalled Korea for breadth of market coverage.”

OMDIA Principal Analyst Stephen Myers said: “We are seeing governments and regulators fine-tuning their 5G spectrum allocations and operators get ready for their 5G launches and expand network coverage in those countries where 5G has already launched.”