Regulators said the three carrier candidates failed to meet minimum requirements
The Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning decided not to award a fourth mobile telephony license after evaluating three potential carrier candidates.
According to the authorities, the three telcos under review failed to meet the minimum requirement during the assessment procedures. The three companies previously under evaluation by the Korean authorities were Sejong Telecom, K Mobile and Quantum Mobile.
The decision was adopted after the ministry carried out a detailed analysis of the candidate’s financial and technological capabilities as well as their proposed service and privacy protection plans. “All three firms lacked credibility and viability of their fund-raising plans, and they also lacked detailed plans on ways to establish networks and provide services,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Korean government has been considering adding a fourth mobile carrier license since 2010. The government previously considered that the entry of a new player would foster competition in the local market. The mobile market is currently dominated by SK Telecom, with a market share of approximately 50%, followed by KT and LG Uplus.
According to SK Telecom’s latest financial report, the mobile carrier ended the fourth quarter of 2015 with 28.62 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.
Rival operator KT counted 18.03 million wireless subscribers at the end of 2015. The telco offers LTE services using spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.1 GHz bands. KT initially launched its 4G LTE offering in January 2012.
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LG Uplus reported 11.94 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.
Vodafone India to launch LTE in Mumbai this week
In other APAC news, Indian mobile operator Vodafone said it expects to commercially launch 4G LTE services in Mumbai on February 10, according to local press reports.
The telco started to sell LTE-enable SIM cards in Mumbai in early January, according to the reports, and last week, the telco launched its 4G LTE service in the city of Delhi and the NCR region.
The telco had initially launched 4G LTE in Kerala, Karnataka and Kolkata.
Vodafone India is a fully owned subsidiary of Vodafone Group and launched operations in the Asian nation in 2007. The telco currently serves approximately 188 million subscribers across India.