An SK Telecom Co. employee tests 5G roaming service in Switzerland before the top carrier launches official service for the first time 

in the world with Swisscom on Wednesday. [Photo provided by SK Telecom Co.]

South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. has joined hands with Swisscom Ltd., the largest wireless communications services provider in Switzerland, to roll out world’s first fifth-generation (5G) roaming service in the European country on Wednesday.

Swisscom is Switzerland’s top telecom operator with about 6 million subscribers that also launched long-term evolution (LTE) roaming service in Europe with SK Telecom in July, 2013.

Under the partnership, users of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S10 handsets with 5G plan will be able to connect to Swisscom’s 5G network in the European country starting Wednesday after they upgrade software.

SK Telecom said on Tuesday that roaming service users in Switzerland will be able to connect to various services via 5G network such as high-traffic YouTube and mobile app Oksusu as well as other streaming services and also augmented reality and virtual reality contents.

[Photo provided by SK Telecom Co.]

To celebrate the launch of 5G roaming service, SK Telecom will offer 5G roaming service without additional cost until the end of this year to its subscribers of baro payment plan visiting Switzerland.

According to SK Telecom, it has secured 550,000 5G subscribers as of end of June since it launched world’s first 5G service in April, becoming world’s first mobile carrier to surpass the 500,000 subscriber milestone.

LG Uplus Corp., meanwhile, will also launch 5G roaming service in Finland on Friday after successfully completing roaming commercial test on July 2. Under partnership with Elisa Oyj, Finland’s largest telecommunications company with 6 million subscribers, LG Uplus will allow users of LG Electronics Inc.’s V50 ThinQ to connect to 5G network in Finland.

By Shin Chan-ok and Lee Eun-joo

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