S. Korea's 5G users near 10m in Oct.: data

Published : Nov 30, 2020 - 14:30 Updated : Nov 30, 2020 - 14:30

Apple Inc.'s iPhone 12 smartphones on display at a store in Myeongdong, central Seoul. (Yonhap)

South Korea's number of 5G users reached nearly 10 million as of end-October, ministry data showed Monday.

The number of 5G subscribers stood at 9.98 million as of the end of October, up 735,113 from the previous month, according to data from the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The 5G subscribers accounted for 14.2 percent of the country's mobile subscriptions totaling 70.4 million.

South Korea commercially rolled out 5G in April 2019 for the first time in the world.

The latest figure comes as Apple Inc. launched its new iPhone 12 series smartphones on Oct. 30 in the local market.

The iPhone 12 series consists of Apple's first smartphones to support the latest generation network and will likely boost the country's migration to 5G.

Since their release in the local market, Apple is estimated to have sold around 600,000 iPhone 12 series models.

The country's 4G subscriptions continued to decline, reaching 53.9 million last month, down 397,118 from the previous month. (Yonhap)