The Effect of Zero-Cost Plans on Alttul Phone Surpasses 14 Million Subscribers

In May, the number of subscribers to budget mobile phone services surpassed 14 million. The recent popularity of budget phones among the younger generation, along with the effect of the '0-won plan,' appears to have significantly increased the number of subscribers.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT's wireless communication service statistics as of the 10th, the number of budget phone subscribers in May was 14,134,804, a 1.7% increase from the previous month.

[Image source=Pixabay]

Starting in April, small and medium-sized budget phone companies began offering 0-won plans, and by May, about 80 plans were available on the market, intensifying competition. Thanks to the 0-won plan effect, the number of mobile phone lines excluding Internet of Things (IoT), tablet PCs, and wearable devices also increased. Looking at lines by usage, the number of customer mobile phone subscribers was 7,940,171, a 1.9% increase in one month. The number of number-porting subscribers rose by 17.9% from April to 291,766.

As budget phone subscribers increased, the previously declining LTE lines have grown for three consecutive months. The total number of LTE subscribers is 46,376,749, accounting for 58.5% of all communication users. Among all budget phone subscribers, LTE accounts for 91.5%. Budget phone 5G subscribers reached 263,507, a 10.1% increase due to the launch of mid-tier budget phone 5G plans.

The growth momentum of budget phones is expected to accelerate. On the 6th, the government announced the 'Telecommunication Market Competition Promotion Plan' and stated it would support the growth of budget phone operators. Measures include institutionalizing the wholesale provision obligation system, diversifying wholesale price calculation methods, expanding discounts for bulk data purchases, strengthening regulations on the market share of subsidiaries of the three major telecom companies, and improving the image of budget phones.

The total number of 5G subscribers reached 30,439,382, a 1.4% increase from the previous month. By telecom company, SKT has the largest number of 5G subscribers at 14,529,024 (47.7%), followed by KT with 9,111,962 (29.9%), and LG Uplus with 6,534,889 (21.5%). The total number of mobile communication subscribers is 79,215,037, with SKT at 31,085,980 (39.2%), KT at 17,590,564 (22.2%), and LG Uplus at 16,409,071 (20.7%).

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT's 'Wireless Data Traffic Statistics,' total 5G traffic in May was 811,237 TB, and LTE traffic was 191,041 TB. Traffic per subscriber was 28,036 MB for 5G and 7,386 MB for LTE. Since the commercialization of 5G, per-subscriber 5G traffic has fluctuated between 23,000 and 28,000 MB.