South Korea Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Publication Date: April 2024

Report Pages: 143

Analyst: Sebastien De Rosbo

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Summary
Table Of Contents

South Korea drives up its 5G adoption and data usage

South Korea is second only to Hong Kong in the world rankings of telecom market maturity. It enjoys a highly competitive but stable market, with strong central government support that helps drive the rollout of advanced infrastructure in both the fixed and mobile arenas. South Korea is also on the leading edge of the latest telecom technology developments, including around 6G. And it is host to two of the world’s top equipment manufacturers in the form of Samsung and LG.

With its highly urbanised, tech-savvy population, South Korea also enjoys very high penetration levels across all segments – fixed-line telephony (44% at the start of 2022), fixed broadband (46%), mobile voice and data (144%), and mobile broadband (120%). The performance of the mobile sector is on a par with other developed markets around the region, but it’s the wireline segment that allows South Korea to stand out from the crowd. This is partly a reflection of the large proportion of its population who live in apartment buildings (around 60%), making fibre and apartment LAN connections relatively easy and cost-effective to deploy. The government’s Ultra Broadband convergence Network (UBcN) had aimed to reach 50% adoption by the end of 2022, but that target may be a few more years away. Still, the country already has one of the world’s highest fixed broadband rates.

Fixed-line teledensity is also at a very high level compared to most of the rest of the world, but it has been on a sharp decline from a penetration rate of 60% ten years ago. That fall has forced the incumbent telco KT Corp to diversify into other telecom segments (including investments in 5G and the development of 6G) as well as non-telecom sectors (such as autonomous vehicles) in an effort to transform itself into a digital platform company. However, a major network outage in October 2021 drew the ire of the government and the police (in addition to the consumers and businesses directly affected by the shutdown), suggesting that the company may need to refocus its attention back on its core business.

On the mobile front, users have enthusiastically migrated from one generation of mobile platform to the next as each iteration becomes available. There also doesn’t appear to be any great concern about there being a lack of demand for 5G in South Korea (when the country is already well supported by 4G networks), with 30% of all subscribers having already made the switch. Part of the reason behind the rapid transition may be the subsidised handsets on offer from each of the MNOs and the MVNOs – a practice that has become so widespread and cutthroat that the regulators has regularly stepped in and fined the operators billions of won for breaching the subsidy level and risking a price war that will ultimately damage the entire industry.

This report update includes regulator and operator data to February 2022; Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses; and other recent market developments.

Key Developments

5G adoption reaches more than 30%.
Customers on 5G use twice as much data as those on 4G in total despite having less than half the number of subscribers.
South Korean government cancels a planned auction of additional 5G spectrum in the 3.4-3.42GHz range following complaints of unfair process.

Key companies mentioned in this report:

KT Corp, SK Telecom, LG U+, SK Broadband.

Key statistics
Regional Asia market comparison

Market characteristics
Market Leaders
Market Challengers
Market Emergents
TMI vs GDP
Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration

Country overview
Telecommunications market
Regulatory environment

Regulatory authority

Korea Communications Commission (KCC)

Mobile network developments

Subsidies
Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
Spectrum

Mobile market

Mobile infrastructure

6G
5G
4G/LTE
3G
GSM
Mobile voice
Mobile broadband

Major mobile operators

SK Telecom
KT Corp
LG U+
MVNOs

Fixed-line broadband market

Fixed-line broadband technologies

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
Apartment LAN
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
Other fixed broadband services

Fixed broadband operators

KT Corp
LG U+
SK Broadband

Fixed network market

Major network operators

KT Corp
LG U+

Telecommunications infrastructure

National telecom network

National submarine cable infrastructure

International infrastructure

International submarine cable infrastructure
Korea Internet eXchange (KIX)

Smart infrastructure

IoT
Smart grid
Smart cities
Driverless Cars

Appendix – Historic data
Glossary of abbreviations
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities – South Korea – 2022 (e)
Table 2 – Change in the number of mobile number portings – 2012 – 2021
Table 3 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Table 4 – Change in the number of subscribers by platform (million) – 2012 – 2022
Table 5 – Growth in the number of 5G subscribers by operator (million) – 2019 – 2022
Table 6 – Change in the number of LTE subscribers by operator (million) – 2016 – 2022
Table 7 – Change in the number of 3G subscribers by operator (million) – 2017 – 2022
Table 8 – Change in the number of 2G subscribers by operator – 2017 – 2022
Table 9 – Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Table 10 – Mobile broadband subscribers by operator (million) – 2017 – 2022
Table 11 – Change in mobile data traffic by platform (TB) – 2015 – 2022
Table 12 – Change in the number of mobile subscribers by operator (million) – 2012 – 2021
Table 13 – Change in mobile market share by operator – 2012 – 2021
Table 14 – Development of mobile service ARPU per month by operator (KRW / month) – 2012 – 2021
Table 15 – Change in the number of SK Telecom’s mobile subscribers by platform (million) – 2012 – 2021
Table 16 – Development of SK Telecom’s mobile service revenue – 2012 – 2021
Table 17 – Development of KT Corp’s mobile subscribers by platform (million) – 2012 – 2021
Table 18 – Development of KT Corp’s mobile service revenue (KRW billion) – 2012 – 2021
Table 19 – Change in the number of LG U+ mobile subscribers (million) – 2012 – 2021
Table 20 – Change in the number of MVNO subscribers by operator (million) – 2012 – 2021
Table 21 – Change in the number of MVNO subscribers by technology – 2017 – 2022
Table 22 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Table 23 – Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers by platform (million) – 2012 – 2022
Table 24 – Change in the market share of broadband subscribers by operator – 2012 – 2022
Table 25 – Change in the number of KT‘s broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2021
Table 26 – Change in the number of LG U+‘s broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2022
Table 27 – Decline in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2012 – 2027
Table 28 – Change in the number of fixed-wired and VoIP lines (million) – 2016 – 2022
Table 29 – Decline in the number of KT Corp’s fixed voice lines – 2012 – 2021
Table 30 – Development of KT Corp’s financial data (KRW billion) – 2012 – 2021
Table 31 – Change in the number of LG U+’s fixed-line subscribers (thousand) – 2012 – 2022
Table 32 – Development of LG U+’s financial data (KRW billion) – 2012 – 2021
Table 33 – Historic - Mobile subscribers – 1996 – 2011
Table 34 – Historic - CDMA mobile subscribers by operator (million) – 2002 – 2011
Table 35 – Historic - mobile market share by operator – 2002 – 2011
Table 36 – Historic - Mobile subscribers by operator (million) – 2002 – 2011
Table 37 – Historic - Mobile Service ARPU per month by operator (KRW / month) – 2002 – 2011
Table 38 – Historic - KT Corp’s mobile subscribers by type (million) – 2004 – 2011
Table 39 – Historic - SK Telecom mobile subscribers by type (million) – 2002 – 2011
Table 40 – Historic - LG U+ mobile subscribers – 2003 – 2011
Table 41 – Historic - Fixed broadband subscriber growth and penetration rate – 1999 – 2011
Table 42 – Historic - Fixed lines in service and penetration – 1991 – 2011
Table 43 – Historic - South Korea VoIP subscribers – 2006 – 2011
Table 44 – Historic - Fixed broadband subscribers by platform (million) – 1998 – 2011
Table 45 – Historic - Fixed broadband subscribers by operator (million) – 2005 – 2011
Table 46 – Historic - Broadband market share by operator – 2005 – 2011
Table 47 – Historic - LG U+ broadband subscribers – 2004 – 2011
Table 48 – Historic - KT Corp - Fixed Voice - PSTN and VoIP lines subscribers – 1991 – 2011
Table 49 – Historic - KT Corp PSTN lines – 2003 – 2011
Table 50 – Historic - KT Corp VoIP subscribers – 2008 – 2011
Table 51 – Historic - LG U+ fixed-line (PSTN and VoIP) subscribers – 2005 – 2011
Table 52 – Historic - International bandwidth – 1997 – 2011

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Asia Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Leaders
Chart 2 – Asia Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Challengers
Chart 3 – Asia Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Emergents
Chart 4 – Asia – Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per capita
Chart 5 – Asia – Mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 6 – Northern Asia – Mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 7 – Northern Asia – Fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 8 – Change in the number of mobile number portings – 2012 – 2021
Chart 9 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Chart 10 – Change in the number of subscribers by platform – 2012 – 2022
Chart 11 – Growth in the number of 5G subscribers by operator – 2019 – 2022
Chart 12 – Change in the number of LTE subscribers by operator – 2016 – 2022
Chart 13 – Change in the number of 3G subscribers by operator – 2017 – 2022
Chart 14 – Change in the number of 2G subscribers by operator – 2017 – 2022
Chart 15 – Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Chart 16 – Mobile broadband subscribers by operator – 2017 – 2022
Chart 17 – Change in the number of mobile subscribers by operator – 2012 – 2021
Chart 18 – Change in mobile market share by operator – 2012 – 2021
Chart 19 – Development of mobile service ARPU per month by operator – 2012 – 2021
Chart 20 – Change in the number of SK Telecom’s mobile subscribers by platform – 2012 – 2021
Chart 21 – Development of SK Telecom’s mobile service revenue – 2012 – 2021
Chart 22 – Development of KT Corp’s mobile subscribers by platform – 2012 – 2021
Chart 23 – Development of KT Corp’s mobile service revenue – 2012 – 2021
Chart 24 – Change in the number of LG U+ mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2021
Chart 25 – Change in the number of MVNO subscribers by operator – 2012 – 2021
Chart 26 – Change in the number of MVNO subscribers by technology – 2017 – 2022
Chart 27 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Chart 28 – Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers by platform – 2012 – 2022
Chart 29 – Change in the market share of broadband subscribers by operator – 2012 – 2022
Chart 30 – Change in the number of KT‘s broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2021
Chart 31 – Change in the number of LG U+‘s broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2022
Chart 32 – Decline in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2012 – 2027
Chart 33 – Change in the number of fixed-wired and VoIP lines – 2016 – 2022
Chart 34 – Decline in the number of KT Corp’s fixed voice lines – 2012 – 2021
Chart 35 – Development of KT Corp’s financial data – 2012 – 2021
Chart 36 – Change in the number of LG U+’s fixed-line subscribers – 2012 – 2022
Chart 37 – Development of LG U+’s financial data – 2012 – 2021

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Map of Telecom Maturity Index global ranking among countries in Asia
Exhibit 2 – Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 3 – Asia – Market Leaders and market developments
Exhibit 4 – Asia – Market Challengers and market developments
Exhibit 5 – Asia – Market Emergents and market developments
Exhibit 6 – Map of South Korea
Exhibit 7 – Significant telcos in South Korea and their offers
Exhibit 8 – 5G spectrum auction results – July 2018
Exhibit 9 – Comparison of WiBro and mobile technologies in South Korea
Exhibit 10 – National submarine fibre optic cables overview in South Korea
Exhibit 11 – International submarine fibre optic cables overview in South Korea
Exhibit 12 – Interconnection status by IX

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South Korea Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

South Korea drives up its 5G adoption and data usage

Key Developments

Key companies mentioned in this report:

Key statistics

Regional Asia market comparison

Country overview

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Mobile market

Fixed-line broadband market

Fixed network market

Telecommunications infrastructure

Appendix – Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views