Articles tagged with: Lg and Ktf

South Korean W-CDMA base exceeds EV-DO in fourth quarter

All three South Korean operators have now reported their Q4 08 results. The South Korean market is one of the most stable in the world, and it was thus no surprise that market shares remained unchanged both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, with SK Telecom (SKT) on 50.5%, KT Freetel (KTF) on 31.5% and lg Telecom (lgT) on 18.0%. In fact, barring a minor blip in June, there was no change in market shares on a monthly basis either throughout 2008. more

Related Tags: 3g, arpu, cdma, cdma2000-1x, sk-telecom, cdma2000, kt, kt-freetel, ev-do, lg-telecom, Korea

SK Telecom, KT Freetel and LG Telecom Q3 2008 Results

The third quarter of 2008 saw SK Telecom (SKT) maintain its market leadership in almost every regard. In a highly stratified market, it was no surprise that it still had the largest subscriber base with 22.88m, compared to 14.26m for KT Freetel (KTF) and 8.14m for lg Telecom (lgT). Its dominance of the figures for quarterly net additions was also predictable given that it had topped the market for this metric for the previous seven quarters. However, it added just 131.6k new customers in Q3 08, its lowest gain since Q3 06 - the last quarter in which it failed to lead the market. KTF recorded net additions of 93.3k, up 29.8% year on year, while lgT saw its lowest figure since Q1 05 with a gain of just 66.8k. more

Related Tags: arpu, sk-telecom, kt, kt-freetel, lg-telecom, Korea

Lower Handset Sales in South Korea

The number of mobile telecom subscribers in South Korea grew 125,401 Month on Month in September to 45.3 million and the penetration rate rose to 93.1%, reports Korea Investment and Securities. Monthly net additions in September were slightly higher than in July and August but only 50.7% of the monthly average in 1H08, which shows cooled competition since July. more

Related Tags: sk-telecom, lg-telecom, Korea

South Korean Telcos Seeing Easing Competition and Better Profitability

A research note from Korea Investment & Securities (KIS) notes that despite sluggish profitability in 2Q08, the three wireless telcos have been outperforming the broader stock market. Positive catalysts for their stock prices were highlighted defensive characteristics amid the slowing domestic economy and eased marketing competition since July. Given some changes in the wireless telecom market conditions, they think it is time to keep an eye on the slowdown in competition going forward. more

Related Tags: rsa, capex, seven, lg-telecom, target, Korea

South Korean 3G Race Hots Up

The number of South Korean mobile users finished just short of 45m at the end of June, with a total of 44.98m. The market remains highly stratified with SK Telecom (SKT) the clear market leader. At the end of June, it had 22.74m customers and 50.6% market share, up 0.1pp year on year. It has gained the highest figure for monthly net additions every month since October 2006, a 21-month run. Moreover, in absolute terms it has consolidated its lead over second-placed KT Freetel (KTF), increasing the gap from 7.85m at the end of June 2007 to 8.58m a year later. more

Related Tags: w-cdma, kt, kt-freetel, lg-telecom, Korea

DoCoMo & KT Freetel to Jointly Procure 3G Phone from LG

Japan's DoCoMo and South Korea's KT Freetel have announced that they are to jointly procure a 3G handset model from lg Electronics. The handset is lg's WINE model, which DoCoMo will sell as the FOMA L706ie in Japan from August, while KTF plans to introduce the model in South Korea from September. more

Related Tags: docomo, kt, hsdpa, kt-freetel, Korea

South Korea - Market Remains Stable Despite Record Churn Rates

The number of mobile connections in South Korea reached 44.27m at the end of March 2008, with just under 260.0k net additions in the month. This was 21% lower than the March 2007 figure of 329.1k. On a quarterly basis growth was also down, with net additions of 768.5k in Q1 08 compared to 904.1k in Q1 07, and proportionate growth falling from 2.2% to 1.8%. However, the Q1 08 growth rate was higher than the rates recorded in both Q1 05 and Q1 06, and on a rolling annual basis the growth rate of 7.7% was the third highest over the past three years behind the 7.8% and 8.2% rates of Q3 07 and Q4 07 respectively. more

Related Tags: kt, kt-freetel, lg-telecom, churn, Korea

South Korean Operators Saw "Exceptional" Subscriber Growth in 2007

South Korea's Korean Investment Services has reported that during 2007, the three local mobile operators had net additions numbering 3.3 million. Considering annual net additions were only 1.76 million in 2005 and 1.86 million in 2006, the 2007 result was quite exceptional, caused by stiff competition for subscriber attraction and 3G marketing. more

Related Tags: sk-telecom, lg-telecom, Korea

Operators to Launch NFC-Based Mobile Payment Services

Over the next several months, 12 mobile operators will run trials of contactless mobile payment services in Australia, France, Ireland, Korea, Malaysia, Norway, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey and the U.S. as a precursor to commercial launches. The trials form part of the GSMA's Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative, which is designed to provide a single global approach to enabling contactless payments using a mobile phone. Consumers will be able to use their handsets to quickly, easily and securely pay for goods and services in shops, restaurants and train stations. more

South Korea - Another slow summer south of the 38th parallel

The latest figures from the three South Korean operators indicate that the total number of mobile customers was 42.8m at the end of September. This represents an annual growth rate of 7.8%, with net additions of 3.1 million in the year. more

Related Tags: sk-telecom, kt, kt-freetel, lg-telecom, Korea