Regulators evaluating three potential carrier candidates
The mobile telephony market in South Korea may have a new player soon as the government confirmed it plans to decide this week whether to award a fourth mobile carrier license.
The country’s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning has been evaluating three potential candidates for several months. Those efforts have included an analysis of the candidate’s financial and technological capabilities as well as their proposed service and privacy protection plans.
The three companies under evaluation are Sejong Telecom, K Mobile and Quantum Mobile. If the government finally decides to award a new license, the new telco is expected to launch commercial operations in 2017.
South Korean authorities have been considering allocating a fourth mobile license since 2010. The government believes the entry of a new player will make the market more dynamic and foster competition. The mobile market is currently dominated by SK Telecom, with a market share of approximately 50%, followed by KT and LG Uplus.
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According to SK Telecom’s latest financial report, the telco ended the third quarter of 2015 with 28.47 million mobile subscribers. The telco had initially launched LTE in the South Korean market in July 2011 through spectrum in the 850 MHz band, and also offers LTE services through spectrum in the 1800 MHz and 2.1 GHz bands. SK Telecom previously announced plans to launch a pre-5G trial in 2018 and a commercial “5G” service in 2020.
Rival operator KT counted 17.8 million wireless subscribers at the end of the third quarter of 2015. The telco offers LTE services using spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.1 GHz bands. KT initially launched its LTE offering in January 2012.
LG Uplus reported 11.79 million subscribers at the end of the third quarter of 2015. LG Uplus currently offers LTE services using spectrum in the 850 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands.