Shown in this file photo taken on Oct. 9, 2017 are electronics shops in Seoul selling handsets. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 7 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. has seen its market share drop below 40 percent for the first time since the establishment of the three-company telecom system, data showed Monday.
As per the Ministry of Science and ICT’s wireless communication service subscription status report released on Monday, SK Telecom had 30.45 million mobile subscribers in January of this year, accounting for 39.9 percent of the total subscribers (76.21 million), excluding “other lines” that manage telecom facilities.
This is the first time since October 2001, before SK Telecom’s acquisition of Shinsaegi Telecom Inc., that its share of the mobile communications market has fallen below 40 percent.
However, the report notes that this figure includes subscribers to tablet PCs, wearables, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In terms of the number of mobile phone lines for customers, the company’s market share was 41.9 percent.
KT Corp. came in second with 16.9 million subscribers, accounting for 22.2 percent of the market share, while LG Uplus Corp came in third with 15.8 million subscribers, holding a 20.7 percent market share.
The report also highlights that the number of budget phone subscribers was 13.1 million in January this year, comprising 17.1 percent of all subscribers.
Furthermore, the number of mobile phone subscribers from the three major carriers increased by 1.6 million, and the number of budget phone subscribers increased by 2.5 million compared to the same period last year.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
