SKT's Market Share Falls Below 40%... First Time Since the Three Major Telecom Companies System

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jaehee] The market share of SK Telecom, the number one mobile carrier, has fallen below 40% for the first time since the establishment of the three-carrier system.

According to the wireless communication service subscription status from the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 6th, as of January this year, SKT's mobile subscribers were recorded at 30,454,031.

Excluding 'other lines,' devices used for carrier facility management, SKT accounted for 39.95% of the total subscribers (76,215,044).

This is the first time SKT's market share in the mobile communication market has dropped below 40% since October 2001, when it recorded 39.63% before acquiring Shinsegi Telecom.

However, this figure includes all subscribers of tablet PCs, wearables, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices; when counting only customer mobile phone lines, the market share was 41.89%.

KT ranked second with 16,912,350 subscribers (22.19%), and LG Uplus was third with 15,786,473 subscribers (20.71%).

As of January this year, the number of MVNO subscribers was 13,062,190 (17.13%).

Compared to the same period last year, the number of subscribers for the three mobile carriers increased by 1,516,710, and MVNO subscribers increased by 2,484,252.

The number of smartphone users reached 54,297,342, accounting for 97.77% of all mobile phone subscribers.