Total Number Ported in May Reaches 930,000
First Time Exceeding 900,000 Since February 2014
440,000 Leave SKT... Fourfold Increase Compared to Pre-Hacking Incident
Only About 30,000 Switch to SKT... Impact of Store Subscription Suspension
In the aftermath of the SK Telecom (SKT) USIM information hacking incident that occurred at the end of April, the total number of mobile number portability (MNP) cases last month approached 1 million. It is the first time in about a decade that the number of ported numbers in the mobile telecommunications market has exceeded 900,000. The number of lines that switched from SKT to other carriers last month reached approximately 440,000.
According to the telecommunications statistics system of the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association (KTOA) on June 2, the total number of MNP cases last month was 933,509. This figure represents an increase of about 35% compared to the previous month’s 690,954, and is nearly double the number recorded in January this year (about 490,000).
This is the first time since February 2014 (about 1.3 million cases) that the number of ported numbers in the domestic mobile telecommunications market has exceeded 900,000. The number of MNP cases in the telecommunications market has recently hovered around 500,000 per month. Last year, the monthly average number of ported numbers was about 520,000. In the early 2010s, the number of ported numbers exceeded 1 million per month, but after the implementation of the Act on Improvement of Distribution Structure of Mobile Communication Devices (the so-called “DanTong Law”) in 2014, which restricted MNP subsidies, the number plummeted.
The sharp increase in MNP cases last month appears to be the result of the SKT hacking incident. The leakage of all users’ USIM information, as well as controversy over the follow-up measures, accelerated customer departures. The total number of customers who left SKT for other carriers last month reached 440,490, accounting for half of all MNP cases.
Looking at where SKT customers switched to last month, 196,685 moved to KT, while 158,625 moved to LG Uplus. For both carriers, the number of customers switching from SKT more than doubled compared to the previous month. The number of SKT users who switched to MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) also reached 85,180, an increase compared to the monthly average of around 50,000 earlier this year.
The trend of SKT customer departures is particularly pronounced compared to before the USIM hacking incident. Since the beginning of this year, the number of SKT customers moving to other carriers was in the low 100,000s per month, but after the hacking incident in April, it jumped to 200,000, and then surged to the 400,000 range in May.
Furthermore, after the hacking incident, some retail stores of KT and LG Uplus increased subsidies to attract MNP customers, engaging in aggressive marketing, which also contributed to the rise in MNP cases. Some online-focused retailers even offered “payback” cash incentives for customers who ported their number to the latest Galaxy S25 model.
Conversely, the number of customers switching from other carriers to SKT last month was only 34,960, which is about one-quarter of the previous month’s 122,671. The number of subscribers who moved from KT, LG Uplus, and MVNO lines to SKT each remained in the low 10,000s. This is the result of SKT suspending MNP subscriptions at its directly managed and official retail stores in order to prioritize USIM replacements for existing customers.
With a large number of customers waiting for USIM replacements, SKT suspended new and MNP subscriptions at its retail stores amid criticism that USIM stock was being used for new and ported subscriptions. However, MNP and new subscriptions are still possible at non-retail stores. In response to accelerating customer departures and the suspension of new subscriptions, SKT has increased official subsidies and sales incentives for the latest smartphone models.
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