SEOUL, April 30 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent hacking incident at SK Telecom has triggered a spike in demand for SIM card replacements and mobile number transfers, with some South Korean banks poised to benefit from the unexpected fallout by expanding their budget mobile phone services. According to banking industry officials on Tuesday, KB Kookmin [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean government announced on January 15 its most significant reduction in data wholesale prices in a decade as part of its 2025 telecommunications policy aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of budget mobile carriers. The Ministry of Science and ICT revealed that the wholesale data rate, which budget [...]
SEOUL, April 19 (Korea Bizwire) – Budget telecommunications networks continue to report losses nearly six years after they first appeared following an agreement with major mobile network operators in the South Korean market, despite a growing number of customers. According to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIF), the so-called budget telecommunications networks, widely known [...]
SEOUL, March 31 (Korea Bizwire) – Those aged over 40 are the primary clients for handsets provided by low-cost mobile carriers, industry data showed Friday. The budget mobile carriers called “thrift phone operators” refer to mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that rent networks from the country’s three carriers: SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – LG Electronics revealed its latest smartphone on Friday, the LG U, which will come with premium features but at an affordable price. The phone will launch on October 31, and will sell for between 300,000 won ($262) and 400,000 won exclusively at LG Uplus, a telecommunications affiliate of LG [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 29 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of altteul (meaning thrifty in Korean) phone users has increased fourfold in the past year, owed to aggressive marketing campaigns and expanded rate plan options. Korea Post (KP) revealed on April 28 that it totaled 197,733 subscribers in Q1, a 404 percent increase from 39,201 in Q1 [...]
SEOUL, April 18 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s smartphone makers are rushing to introduce new budget phones as part of efforts to secure a meaningful share of the world’s most important smartphone markets, with competition becoming increasingly heated. On April 17, industry sources revealed that Samsung will release the Galaxy C, a new variant of [...]
Competition in the ‘budget phone’ market has been fierce from the start of the year, with the affordable phones rapidly gaining popularity. By the end of last year, one out of ten people was using a budget phone. (Image : Yonhap) SEOUL, Jan.6 (Korea Bizwire) – Competition in the ‘budget phone’ market has been fierce [...]
SEOUL, May 11 (Korea Bizwire) – As Korea’s three main mobile telecommunications service providers have been under suspension taking turns, the budget phone industry is benefiting from the misfortune of the giants. While the three companies are stuck in playing a zero-sum game, budget phone industry has leapfrogged as another axis in the domestic mobile telecom market. [...]
SEOUL, South Korea, Sept 30 (Korea Bizwire) – The Korea Post said on September 28 that it began selling low-cost phones on the 27th and signed up 660 subscribers for the first day. Of these, 194 were changing their calling plan only while the remaining 427 bought phone devices as well as signing up for the [...]