SK Telecom accounted for 47.8% of the total 5G subscribers in Korea
5G subscribers in South Korea reached 30 million as of the end of April, with the addition of 423,000 users during that month, local press reported, citing data from the country’s Ministry of Science and ICT.
The ministry said that the number of 5G subscribers as of the end of April increased 28% year-on-year.
SK Telecom accounted for 47.8% of the total 5G subscribers, followed by KT with 30% and LG Uplus with 21.4%.
In the MVNO market, the ministry reported the number of LTE-based MVNO users increased by 261,316 from March to reach 12.7 million at end-April.
MVNO services powered by 5G networks added 19,248 new subscribers from the previous month, reaching a total of 239,353 subscribers as of the end of April.
The report noted that mobile users are moving away from pricy 5G subscriptions and seeking cheaper alternatives with MVNO operators, forcing local telcos to launch mid-range 5G subscriptions recently. The Korean government is also urging the major telcos to lower 5G service prices, as authorities believe that telecom expenses are one of the major drivers in soaring household expenditures.
South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) recently imposed a combined fine of KRW33.6 billion ($25.7 million) on SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus for misleading advertisements regarding 5G network speeds. The antitrust watchdog accused the carriers of misleading and exaggerating the performance of their 5G networks by claiming speeds only achievable under very limited conditions.
In April, South Korea’s ICT ministry canceled a license owned by SK Telecom to offer 5G services via 28 GHz spectrum, citing a lack of investment. SK Telecom had been given the right to use the 28 GHz band in 2018 and was required to install a total of 15,000 units of network equipment by May this year. However, SK Telecom had only installed nearly 10% of the required equipment.
At the beginning of January, the Korean government effectively cancelled the spectrum licenses in the 28 GHz band that had been previously allocated to local operators for 5G deployments, due to the lack of investment and missed rollout requirements.
As a result, local operators KT and LG Uplus lost the right to use the 28 GHz frequencies they had won in a spectrum auction in 2018. Meanwhile, SK Telecom had its use time of the 28 GHz spectrum reduced by six months. At that time, the government said that the telco will also lose the right to use the spectrum completely if it failed to deploy 15,000 radio stations that use the 28 GHz spectrum by the end of May 2023.
SK Telecom, LG Uplus and KT Corp. had secured frequencies in the 3.5 GHz and 28 GHz bands in 2018, under the condition that they each deploy 22,500 and 15,000 radio stations for each spectrum band. The government noted that telcos had fulfilled with the stipulated number of radio stations for the 3.5 GHz spectrum band.
The Korean government said it is currently seeking new operators for the 28 GHz band. The ICT ministry plans to announce the new frequency allocation plan by June and select new operators in the fourth quarter of 2023.
