South Korea’s second largest operator KT reportedly plans to be the first to commercialise 5G in 2019, a year earlier than its previously stated target, and believes the standards used for the 2018 Winter Olympics will become the de facto 5G standards.

Oh Seong-mok, KT’s VP of networks, said he was “certain that the standards of the 5G Special Interest Group (SIG), which is led by KT, will become the major standards for 3GPP’s international standards” going forward, ET News reported.

Oh said in developing the 5G-SIG standards, the timing for standardisation has been pushed forward by a year, which means everything will be finished by 2019. “We are planning to commercialise 5G in 2019 based on the international standards.”

KT has billed the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang as the first 5G games, with its goal of launching numerous “5G capable” services. It is the official mobile operator supporter of the event.

A “5G Games” in early 2018 is a very ambitious target, given that official ratification of a first true 5G standard isn’t expected until that year.

The operator said recently it will deploy 5G technology and demo services at the Winter Olympics using the standards set by the Next Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) and 3GPP. “To improve upon the standards for 5G in Pyeongchang, KT will continue to make efforts to work with the global standards organisations in playing a leading role and setting the direction of 5G technology,” stated KT.

This week it disclosed specifications for the 5G-SIG standard that have been jointly developed by global vendors, including Intel, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung.