(image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jun. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — The monthly data consumption of South Koreans using the fourth-evolution network (LTE) surpassed 6 gigabytes for the first time in April, reflecting the rising demand for video streaming and other services in the mobile environment, industry data showed Friday.
According to the data compiled by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning, local smartphone users subscribing to LTE services used 6.06 GB of data in April on average, up 2.2 percent on-month.
Industry watchers said the increase is attributable to the rising number of users enjoying various services provided through mobile platforms, including video-streaming content.
The latest figure marks a sharp rise from 1.79 GB posted in December 2012, which was only a year after South Korea first adopted the LTE network.
Local mobile carriers’ subscription packages, launched since 2013, which give users an unlimited amount of data for those with monthly fees beyond 60,000 won (US$53.48) also helped the increase.
As for all of South Korean smartphone users, including those subscribing to 2G and 3G network services, the average figure came to 4.57 GB in April.
The 2G and 3G networks still have 3.25 million and 11.15 million users, respectively, with the comparable figure for the LTE network at 47.8 million, taking up 76.9 percent of the combined users.
(Yonhap)
