5G communication service was first commercialized in South Korea in early 2019. Some parts of existing 3G and 4G networks are being used by the state and private corporates for the operation of emergency communication networks and for industrial uses such as vehicle-to-everything (V2X) networks that connect smart cars and other objects such as traffic lights and on-road signs.
According to a survey of 9,579 South Koreans aged six and more, conducted by the Korea Information Society Development Institute, a state-operated information policy institute, 98.3 percent said that they own a smartphone, and 50.4 percent said that they use 5G services.
The annual identical sample tracking survey focuses on the ownership status of media devices, service subscriptions, expenditure status, media usage, and media diary, which is a record or log of individuals' media consumption habits over a specific period of time.
Among smartphone users, YouTube was their favorite video streaming app (77.5 percent) followed by Netflix (14.2 percent). People's favorite social media service was Instagram (28.6 percent), followed by Facebook (16.7 percent), and Naver Band (13.1 percent).