South Korean government will let new player deploy network infrastructure in phases
The government of South Korea plans to pave the way for the entry of a fourth mobile telephony operator in the country.
The authorities of the Asian nation said that the new operator will be selected during 2015. The government believes that the entry of a new player will make the market more dynamic and foster competition.
The move also has the goal of lowering mobile telephony tariffs. The mobile market is currently dominated by SK Telecom, with a market share of approximately 50%, followed by KT and LG Uplus.
In order to lower the entry barriers, such as a significant initial investments and limited frequencies, the government plans to offer the new operator priority in mobile spectrum allocation and let it deploy a nationwide network infrastructure through a gradual process.
The government of South Korea aims to award 700MHz spectrum in the second half of 2015, according to previous reports.
Meanwhile, the government is reportedly planning to increase the market share of low-price service plans from 10-12% in 2016 by offering incentives for service providers. The government also aims to abolish the current system of new service plans. Under the new bill, mobile operators will be allowed to launch new tariffs without approval in order to respond to consumer demands immediately.
The telecommunications ministry plans to collect public opinions in the coming weeks and will announce the final plan in June.
According to SK Telecom’s latest financial report, the telco ended the first quarter of 2015 with 28.4 million mobile subscribers. LTE subscribers accounted for over 61% of the operator’s overall mobile telephony base.
KT reached a total of 18.24 million wireless subscribers by the end of the first quarter of the year. The firm’s 3G and 4G subscribers amounted to 17.5 million by the Q1 end. LG Uplus totaled 11.45 million subscribers by the end of Q1.
