New Mobile Carriers to Enter Korean Market in Sep. | Telecoms Korea

New mobile carriers may enter the South Korean telecom market starting in September without having to heavily invest in building their own networks, government officials said Tuesday, citing a bill South Korea has passed that allows non-telecom companies to lease existing networks.

Mobile virtual network operators (MVNO), which rent network capacity from existing telecom operators, are expected to increase competition in the domestic telecom market. South Korea is currently dominated by three operators %u2014 SK Telecom, KT and LG Telecom.

%u201COn (Feb.) 26, the National Assembly adopted a bill that allows MVNOs, which will take effect in September,%u201D said an official from the Korea Communications Commission (KCC). %u201CBefore it takes effect, we will prepare criteria to select new operators,%u201D said the official, asking customary anonymity.

Allowing a new mobile carrier to enter the telecom market will decrease the price of talk minutes and data usage fees for consumers, according to the KCC, South Korea%u2019s telecom regulator.

Why haven’t I heard more about this. New mobile carriers in Korea will stir things up quite a bit.

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