KT rolls out 5G roaming services in Europe

South Korean telco KT has rolled out 5G roaming services in three European countries, the company announced.

KT subscribers will continue to be connected to 5G networks when they travel to Italy, Switzerland, and Finland.

The company has partnered with Telecom Italia Mobile in Italy, which is the largest telco in the country with over 31.7 million subscribers. The Italian telco is currently providing 5G services in Rome, Napoli, and Turin.  

In Switzerland, KT has partnered with the local telco Sunrise. Sunrise currently provides 5G connectivity to 262 cities, including Geneva and Zurich. In Finland, it has paired with Elisa which provides in 5G services in five cities, including Helsinki.

See also: KT applies battery conserving tech on 5G network

The roaming service is currently only available for Samsung Galaxy S10 5G users, but KT said it will expand 5G roaming availability to more handsets via a software upgrade at a later date.

KT currently offers roaming services in 185 countries in 3G and LTE networks, and has plans to add 5G roaming to these nations once they have rolled out their 5G networks. It has already trialled 5G roaming with China Mobile ahead of seeing the world's second largest economy deploy its next-generation network sometime next year.

Its rival, SK Telecom, meanwhile launched 5G roaming services in Switzerland with a different telco, Swisscom, in July.

South Korea rolled out its 5G networks in April and since then, telcos have been racing to deploy a nationwide network using the sub-6GHz spectrum.

The country has also started performing tests on 5G standalone networks using mmWave. The standalone networks are expected to be deployed sometime next year.

RELATED COVERAGE

KT to expand deployment of 5G inside buildings

KT will begin 5G services within large and crowded buildings such as airports and train stations.

Samsung seals the deal on expanded KT LTE emergency network

The expanded coverage will deploy Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) through its networks.

KT, LG Uplus propose quantum key standard to ITU

Telcos KT and LG Uplus have proposed a global standard for quantum key distribution to the ITU's Study Group 13.

KT 5G being launched by Ericsson

KT's 5G network will be commercially launched in early April, with the Korean carrier partnering with Ericsson for the deployment.