IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/telpol/v46y2022i5s0308596121001944.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why is South Korea at the forefront of 5G? Insights from technology systems theory

Author

Listed:
  • Massaro, Maria
  • Kim, Seongcheol

Abstract

South Korea became the first country in the world to launch a nationwide 5G network and commercialize 5G services. The Korean government played an essential role in the development of 5G, creating a tailored institutional arrangement that allowed South Korea to be at the forefront of 5G. In particular, the government set up a detailed time plan on how to go about 5G deployment and commercialization. The government also facilitated collaborative work between companies, research institutes, and academia, and strongly promoted R&D work for the development of 5G equipment, devices, and applications, providing financial and administrative support, opportunities for field trials, and various forms of incentive, including tax benefits to companies. This study analyzed the 5G socio-technical system in South Korea through the lens of technology systems theory, identifying and discussing crucial factors that have propelled 5G development and major latent aspects, such as the lack of killer applications for consumers and in vertical industries, which may potentially hinder the further growth and stabilization of the 5G system in South Korea.

Suggested Citation

  • Massaro, Maria & Kim, Seongcheol, 2022. "Why is South Korea at the forefront of 5G? Insights from technology systems theory," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:46:y:2022:i:5:s0308596121001944
    DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2021.102290
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596121001944
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.telpol.2021.102290?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lee, Juyong & Cho, Youngsang, 2018. "Inconvenience cost of mobile communication failure: The case of South Korea," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 241-252.
    2. Sung-Young Kim, 2012. "The Politics of Technological Upgrading in South Korea: How Government and Business Challenged the Might of Qualcomm," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 293-312.
    3. Carlsson, B & Stankiewicz, R, 1991. "On the Nature, Function and Composition of Technological Systems," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 93-118, April.
    4. Rudi Bekkers & Isabelle Liotard, 1999. "European standards for mobile communications: the tense relationship between standards and intellectual property rights," Post-Print hal-00351198, HAL.
    5. Lemstra, Wolter, 2018. "Leadership with 5G in Europe: Two contrasting images of the future, with policy and regulatory implications," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(8), pages 587-611.
    6. Kim, Suwon & Nam, Chan-gi & Lee, Sangwoo & Kim, Seongcheol, 2017. "A public R&D resource allocation model for 5G mobile industry in Korea," 28th European Regional ITS Conference, Passau 2017 169472, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    7. ., 2021. "Capital Mobility and the Threat to American Prosperity," Chapters, in: Neoliberalism and the Road to Inequality and Stagnation, chapter 11, pages 179-185, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Vincent A.C. van den Berg & Henk Meurs & Erik T. Verhoef, 2020. "Business models for interoperable mobility services," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-051/VIII, Tinbergen Institute, revised 05 Apr 2021.
    9. Sung, WookJoon, 2018. "Government Roles and Limitations in ICT Policy: A Case Study of Korean Telecommunication Rate Policy," 22nd ITS Biennial Conference, Seoul 2018. Beyond the boundaries: Challenges for business, policy and society 190362, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    10. Choung, Jae-Yong & Hameed, Tahir & Ji, Illyong, 2012. "Catch-up in ICT standards: Policy, implementation and standards-setting in South Korea," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 79(4), pages 771-788.
    11. Amela Ajanovic & Marina Siebenhofer & Reinhard Haas, 2021. "Electric Mobility in Cities: The Case of Vienna," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, January.
    12. Cave, Martin, 2018. "How disruptive is 5G?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(8), pages 653-658.
    13. Robert Kerwin C. Billones & Marielet A. Guillermo & Kervin C. Lucas & Marlon D. Era & Elmer P. Dadios & Alexis M. Fillone, 2021. "Smart Region Mobility Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-29, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Blind, Knut & Niebel, Crispin, 2022. "5G roll-out failures addressed by innovation policies in the EU," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    2. Lim, Chulmin & Rowsell, Joe & Kim, Seongcheol, 2023. "Exploring the killer domains to create new value: A Comparative case study of Canadian and Korean telcos," 32nd European Regional ITS Conference, Madrid 2023: Realising the digital decade in the European Union – Easier said than done? 277998, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    3. Yunho Ji & Sang-Min Kim & YoungJun Kim, 2024. "A Way to Attract Digital Nomads to Tourist Destinations in the New Normal Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-16, March.
    4. Michael Cabanillas-Carbonell & Jorge Pérez-Martínez & Jaime A. Yáñez, 2023. "5G Technology in the Digital Transformation of Healthcare, a Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, February.
    5. Kim, Min Sung & Kim, Junghwan & Kim, Seongcheol, 2023. "Korea's leadership in 5G and beyond: Footprints and futures," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bauer, Johannes M. & Bohlin, Erik, 2022. "Regulation and innovation in 5G markets," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4).
    2. Edward J. Oughton & Ashutosh Jha, 2021. "Supportive 5G Infrastructure Policies are Essential for Universal 6G: Assessment using an Open-source Techno-economic Simulation Model utilizing Remote Sensing," Papers 2102.08086, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2021.
    3. Rossi, Maria Alessandra, 2022. "The advent of 5G and the non-discrimination principle," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4).
    4. Forge, Simon & Vu, Khuong, 2020. "Forming a 5G strategy for developing countries: A note for policy makers," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(7).
    5. Ahokangas, Petri & Matinmikko-Blue, Marja & Yrjölä, Seppo & Hämmäinen, Heikki, 2021. "Platform configurations for local and private 5G networks in complex industrial multi-stakeholder ecosystems," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(5).
    6. Jeon, Chunmi & Han, Seung Hun & Kim, Hyeong Joon & Kim, Sangsoo, 2022. "The effect of government 5G policies on telecommunication operators’ firm value: Evidence from China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2).
    7. Foxon, T. J. & Gross, R. & Chase, A. & Howes, J. & Arnall, A. & Anderson, D., 2005. "UK innovation systems for new and renewable energy technologies: drivers, barriers and systems failures," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(16), pages 2123-2137, November.
    8. Jonas Heiberg & Bernhard Truffer, 2021. "The emergence of a global innovation system – a case study from the water sector," GEIST - Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions 2021(09), GEIST Working Paper Series.
    9. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung - welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert des Wachstum?," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 144, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    10. Annika Rickne, 2006. "Connectivity and Performance of Science-based Firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 393-407, May.
    11. Vallentin, Daniel, 2007. "Inducing the international diffusion of carbon capture and storage technologies in the power sector," Wuppertal Papers 162, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy.
    12. Houngbonon, Georges Vivien & Ivaldi, Marc & Palikot, Emil & Strusani, Davide, 2023. "The Impact of Shared Telecom Infrastructure on Digital Connectivity and Inclusion," TSE Working Papers 23-1427, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    13. Pradeep Racherla & Munir Mandviwalla, 2013. "Moving from Access to Use of the Information Infrastructure: A Multilevel Sociotechnical Framework," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 709-730, September.
    14. Pier Paolo Patrucco, 2005. "The emergence of technology systems: knowledge production and distribution in the case of the Emilian plastics district," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 29(1), pages 37-56, January.
    15. Souzanchi Kashani, Ebrahim & Roshani, Saeed, 2019. "Evolution of innovation system literature: Intellectual bases and emerging trends," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 68-80.
    16. Shi, Yuwei & Herniman, John, 2023. "The role of expectation in innovation evolution: Exploring hype cycles," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    17. Benoit Desmarchelier & Faridah Djellal & Faïz Gallouj, 2018. "L'innovation dans les services publics à la lumière des paradigmes de l'administration publique et des perspectives des Service Innovation Studies," Working Papers halshs-01934287, HAL.
    18. Maxim Kotsemir & Alexander Abroskin & Dirk Meissner, 2013. "Innovation concepts and typology – an evolutionary discussion," HSE Working papers WP BRP 05/STI/2013, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    19. Islam, Md. Mofakkarul & Renwick, Alan W. & Lamprinopoulou-Kranis, Chrysa & Klerkx, Laurens, 2012. "Dynamics of Innovation in Livestock Genetics in Scotland: An Agricultural Innovation Systems Perspective," 131st Seminar, September 18-19, 2012, Prague, Czech Republic 135769, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Shih-Chang Hung & Yung-Ching Tseng, 2017. "Extending the LLL framework through an institution-based view: Acer as a dragon multinational," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 799-821, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:46:y:2022:i:5:s0308596121001944. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.