Ministry of Science and ICT to Announce Wireless Communication Status on the 9th
Increasing Lines through Control Systems and Wireless Payments
KT Still Leads in Phones, PCs, and Wearables
LG Uplus has risen to the second position in the total number of mobile communication subscribers.
On the 9th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced statistics on the status of wireless communication service subscriptions. As of the end of September, the total number of mobile communication lines was counted as 31,168,214 for SK Telecom, 18,016,932 for LG Uplus, and 17,133,388 for KT, respectively.
Although it was already known through the Q3 earnings disclosures of both companies on the 7th that LG Uplus, which had been the 'perennial 3rd place,' surpassed KT, this is the first time this fact has been confirmed by official government statistics.
LG Uplus appears to have rapidly increased its subscribers mainly through Internet of Things (IoT) lines such as vehicle control, remote monitoring, and wireless payments. The total number of IoT lines was ranked as SK Telecom with 6,503,796, LG Uplus with 5,999,223, and KT with 2,175,251.
However, among mobile communications, the number of customer mobile phone subscribers remained in the existing order with SK Telecom at 23,094,699, KT at 13,591,062, and LG Uplus at 11,010,874.
The number of lines for other personal devices such as tablet PCs and wearables also followed the order of SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus.
On the 28th (local time), a large-scale Taegeukgi video was being displayed at the KT booth inside the Fira Gran Via exhibition center in Barcelona, Spain, where the world's largest mobile telecommunications exhibition, Mobile World Congress (MWC 2023), was held, ahead of Samiljeol. Photo by Joint Press Corps
KT stated, "We will maintain the gap with competitors in the core mobile communication human-based subscribers and second device subscriber-based lines such as wearables."
On the other hand, LG Uplus responded, "Mobile communication services are expanding from the existing B2C market to the B2B market, and among these, IoT is expected to grow significantly in new industry fields such as car infotainment, smart factories, and UAM. We will strive to become a leading operator in the B2B market."
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