KT To Expand South Korea's Free Public Wi-Fi Availability

The South Korea government will install an additional 10,000 free Wi-Fi access points in public areas by the end of the year, the Ministry of Science and ICT said.

By 2022, the ministry hopes to have installed 41,000 access in total at public areas such as transportation stations and community service centres nationwide.

Old Wi-Fi access points installed before 2014 -- amounting to around 18,000 units -- will also be swapped out for new ones, the government said.

South Korean telco KT has been given a budget of 18 billion won ($15 million) to handle the project.

The new access points will be based on the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry explained that public Wi-Fi services have become essential for bridging digital divides and reducing household data costs.

The government added that an integrated monitoring centre has been set up to monitor all of the Wi-Fi access points across the country to inspect data traffic and maintain quality of service.

Last year, South Korea installed free Wi-Fi on 23,000 buses nationwide. 

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