2018 South Korea - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Digital Media - Statistics and Analyses

Last updated: 5 Feb 2018 Update History

Report Status: Archived

Report Pages: 124

Analyst: Phil Harpur

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Summary
Table Of Contents

Publication Overview

This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in South Korea's telecommunications market. The report analyses the mobile, internet, broadband, and converging media sectors. Subjects include:

Market and industry analyses, trends and developments;
Facts, figures and statistics;
Industry and regulatory issues;
Infrastructure;
Major Players, Revenues, Subscribers, ARPU
Internet, VoIP, IPTV;
Mobile Voice and Data Markets;
Broadband (FttH, DSL, cable TV, wireless);
Convergence and Digital Media;
Mobile subscriber forecasts to 2022
Broadband market forecasts to 2022

Researchers:- Phil Harpur
Current publication date:- February 2018 (24th Edition)

Executive Summary

South Korea continues as a market leader in 5G

South Korea has transformed its economy to one that is more progressively knowledge based. It has invested significantly in telecommunications infrastructure over past decades.

South Korea is ranked 1st out of 34 with an Asian Telecoms Maturity Index score of 92. (BuddeComm’s “Asian Telecoms Maturity Index”, is an index (on a scale between 0 and 100) that measures and ranks the relative maturity of the telecoms industry in all of the 34 countries in Asia.) Compared to other Asian nations, South Korea has an extremely high mobile and mobile broadband penetration and very high fixed broadband penetration.

Fixed lines in South Korea have been gradually declining over the past five years. This trend is predicted to continue over the next five years to 2022.

South Korea has one of the world’s most active telecommunications and Information Technology (IT) markets backed by strong support from the government. As well as the commitment of the government, the sector is boosted by an innovative private sector and a technologically savvy population. Spending on ICT and high-technology equipment helped lead a transformation of the economy. The government aims to transform the country into a knowledge-based information society in a ‘smart-age’.

Huawei has partnered with LG U+. for the launch of Seoul TechCity as part of its commitment to drive smart city efforts. The Seoul TechCity collaborative project aims to deliver smart city capabilities for the Korean capital.

South Korea has the world’s highest number of broadband services per capita. Korea’s policy emphasis has been to establish an Ultra Broadband convergence Network (UBcN) with 1Gb/s speeds on fixed lines and 10Mb/s on wireless.

Fixed-line broadband market penetration has grown slowly over the past five years in a highly mature market. Over the next five years to 2022 growth is expected to continue to increase slowly.

SK Telecom announced the introduction of a new technology for the next generation of Wi-Fi that it claims can deliver downlink speeds ‘as fast as 5G technology’.

The Korean government has developed and demonstrated broadband-based services like e-health, e-learning, e-government and u-City. E-health services are provided to remote island regions of Korea. In this way, broadband has been used as a method to narrow the gap between rich and poor and among classes and regions.

Growth in South Korea’s mobile subscriber market has been moderate over the past five years. The market has been driven by organic growth from the three main mobile operators, together with the multitude of niche MVNOs.

Mobile subscriber growth is expected to be relatively low over the next five years to 2022. As the market is highly competitive, growth rates will taper off further over the next few years. 5G adoption by 2026 could reach as high as 90%.

In November 2017 LG Uplus partnered with Huawei to complete a large-scale 5G network test in a pre-commercial environment in the Gangnam District of Seoul and SK Telecom announced the successful demonstration of ‘essential technologies for 5G network communications in a real-world setting’.

The mobile broadband subscriber base in South Korea has grown moderately over the past five years in a relatively mature market supported by widespread rollouts of 4G infrastructure. Slower growth is predicted over the next five years to 2022.

Key developments:

SK Telecom became the first South Korean mobile operator to test autonomous cars on public roads.
Huawei has partnered with LG U+. for the launch of Seoul TechCity.
Fixed lines in South Korea have been gradually declining over the past five years.
SK Telecom announced a new technology for the next generation of Wi-Fi.
Over the next five years to 2022 fixed broadband growth is expected to continue to increase slowly.
LG Uplus partnered with Huawei to complete a large-scale 5G network test in a pre-commercial environment.

Companies mentioned in this report:

KT; LG U+; SK Broadband; SK Telecom, SK Broadband, Hanaro Telecom

Phil Harpur
February 2018

Key statistics

Country overview

Background
South Korea’s economy

Telecommunications market

Market Overview and Analysis
Regional Asian Market Comparison
Background

Regulatory environment

Regulatory authority

KCC – Overview and responsibilities
KCC – related laws

Fixed network operators

Overview
KT Corp
LG U+

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network

Internet eXchange (IX)
National submarine cable infrastructure

International infrastructure

International submarine cable infrastructure

Smart infrastructure

IoT
Smart grids
Smart cities
Connected / Smart homes
Driverless Cars

Broadband market

Introduction and statistical overview

Market Overview and analysis

Broadband statistics and Forecasts

Broadband subscribers by access type
Internet users
Internet usage patterns

Broadband Technologies

Overview
Cable modem
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
Apartment LAN
Fibre-to-the-Home

Fixed Broadband operators

Operator Statistics
Background
KT Corp
SK Broadband
LG U+

Fixed Wireless services

WiMAX
WiFi

Digital economy

e-Commerce
e-Banking
e-Government

Next Generation e-government plan: 2008 - 2012
E-Government Global Academy (eGGA) established in South Korea

Digital media

Cable TV (CATV)
Satellite infrastructure
Videostreaming

IPTV

Communications: VoIP, messaging, conferencing

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

Mobile communications

Market Overview and Analysis
Background
Mobile statistics

Mobile Subscribers and Forecasts
Mobile Broadband Subscribers and Forecasts

Regulatory issues

Licensing
Subsidies
Spectrum

Mobile infrastructure

Digital networks
Other infrastructure developments

Major mobile operators

Operator statistics
KT Corp
SK Telecom
LG U+
MVNOs

Mobile content and applications

m-commerce

List of Tables

Table 1 – Country statistics South Korea – 2017 (e).
Table 2 – Internet user statistics – 2017 (e)
Table 3 – Broadband statistics – 2017 (e)
Table 4 – Telephone network statistics – 2017 (e)
Table 5 – Mobile statistics – 2017 (e)
Table 6 – National telecommunications authorities
Table 7 – KT Corp - Total fixed Voice - PSTN and VoIP lines subscribers – 1991 – 2017
Table 8 – KT Corp’s fixed-line subscribers (PSTN) (millions) and market share – 2004 – 2017
Table 9 – KT Corp’s VoIP subscribers – 2008 – 2017
Table 10 – LG Telecom fixed-line (PSTN and VoIP) subscribers – 2005 – 2017
Table 11 – Fixed Line Subscriptions and Penetration – 2007 – 2017
Table 12 – Historical Fixed lines in service and penetration – 1991 – 2007
Table 13 – International bandwidth – 1997 – 2017
Table 14 – Smart grid investments
Table 15 – Fixed Broadband Subscribers and Penetration (with Forecast) – 2007 – 2022
Table 16 – Historic - Fixed broadband subscriber growth and penetration rate – 1999 – 2006
Table 17 – Historic - Broadband internet subscriber numbers by system – 1998 - 2016
Table 18 – Internet Users and Penetration – 2007 – 2017
Table 19 – Historic - Internet usage rates by service– 2011 – 2015
Table 20 – Historic - Main purpose of using the internet – 2010 – 2013; 2015
Table 21 – Historic - Cable modem subscribers – 1999 – 2016
Table 22 – Historic - Broadband cable modem (HFC) subscribers by service provider – 2015
Table 23 – Historic - DSL subscribers – 1999 – 2016
Table 24 – Historic - DSL subscribers by service provider – 2015
Table 25 – A-LAN subscribers – 2002 – 2016
Table 26 – Historic - A-LAN subscribers by service provider – 2015
Table 27 – Historic - FttH subscribers – 2006 – 2016
Table 28 – Historic - FttH subscribers by service provider – 2015
Table 29 – Broadband subscribers – market share by operator (millions) – 2005 - 2017
Table 30 – Broadband market share by operator – 2005 – 2017
Table 31 – LG U+ broadband subscribers – 2004 – 2017
Table 32 – IPTV subscribers by operator – 2006 – 2017
Table 33 – Historic - South Korea VoIP subscribers
Table 34 – Mobile Subscribers and Penetration (with Forecast) – 2007 – 2022
Table 35 – Historic - Mobile subscribers – 1985 - 2006
Table 36 – Historic - Smart phone subscribers and market share
Table 37 – Historic - Smart phone and tablet PC subscribers and market share – 2010 – 2015
Table 38 – Mobile Broadband Subscribers and Penetration (with Forecast) – 2009 - 2022
Table 39 – Historic - CDMA mobile subscribers by operator
Table 40 – Mobile subscribers by operator – 2002 - 2017
Table 41 – Mobile market share by operator – 2002 – 2017
Table 42 – Mobile Service ARPU per month by operator – 2002 – 2017
Table 43 – KT Corp’s mobile subscribers by 3G / 4G – 2004 - 2017
Table 44 – Historic - SK Telecom mobile 3G / 4G subscribers – 2002 - 2017
Table 45 – SK Telecom smartphone subscriber – 2009 - 2017
Table 46 – LG Telecom mobile subscribers, ARPU – 2003 - 2017
Table 47 – Historic - MVNO subscribers by operator – 2012 - 2014

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Asian Telecoms Maturity Index by Market Category
Chart 2 – Asian Telecoms Maturity Index – Northern Asia
Chart 3 – Asian Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita
Chart 4 – Fixed Broadband vs Mobile Penetration - Northern Asia (selected countries)
Chart 5 – Fixed Line Subscriptions and Penetration – 2007 – 2017
Chart 6 – Fixed Broadband Subscribers and Penetration (with Forecast) – 2007 – 2022
Chart 7 – Internet Users and Penetration – 2007 – 2017
Chart 8 – Broadband market share by operator – 2005 - 2017
Chart 9 – Mobile Subscribers and Penetration (with Forecast) – 2007 – 2022
Chart 10 – Mobile Broadband Subscribers and Penetration (with Forecast) – 2007 - 2022

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Map of South Korea
Exhibit 2 – Key Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 3 – Northern Asia -Key Characteristics of Telecoms Markets by Country
Exhibit 4 – Significant telecoms operators in South Korea
Exhibit 5 – Interconnection status by IX
Exhibit 6 – National submarine fibre optic cables overview in South Korea
Exhibit 7 – International submarine fibre optic cables overview in South Korea
Exhibit 8 – Smart grid implementation areas
Exhibit 9 – Phased implementation plan of Jeju Smart Grid
Exhibit 10 – Comparison of WiBro and mobile technologies in South Korea
Exhibit 11 – E-government stages: 1980s – present
Exhibit 12 – KOREASAT satellite status

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2018 South Korea - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Digital Media - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

South Korea continues as a market leader in 5G

Key developments:

Key statistics

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Broadband market

Digital economy

Digital media

Mobile communications

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views