SK Telecom plans to resume new sales using eSIM starting from June 16. Sales using physical USIM cards are expected to resume shortly after June 20, when the free replacement process is anticipated to be completed.
According to the telecommunications industry on June 15, SK Telecom will partially resume sales, starting with eSIM, which does not require consideration of physical inventory. New sales will begin at 2,600 T World stores nationwide, where new subscriptions had been suspended, starting from the morning of June 16. Unlike physical USIM cards that are inserted into devices, an eSIM is a subscriber identification module embedded within a smartphone.
Previously, in April, after a cyber breach incident at SK Telecom resulted in the leakage of USIM-related information, the government issued an administrative order instructing SK Telecom to suspend all new mobile subscriber registrations and number portability from other carriers until the USIM shortage was resolved. The Ministry of Science and ICT, the responsible authority, has stated that new sales may resume once USIM replacements for customers requesting them have been completed.
The decision to partially resume sales appears to have been influenced by the fact that the USIM replacement process is nearing completion. SK Telecom expects that it will be able to accommodate most customers who have reserved free USIM replacements by June 20.
A total of 3.5 million USIM cards are scheduled to be delivered over a two-week period?1.9 million in the second week of this month and 1.6 million in the third week. This significantly exceeds the remaining 1.83 million customers with reservations as of the previous day. An SK Telecom representative stated, "We will prioritize replacements over new sales to ensure that customers who have reserved USIM replacements experience no inconvenience."
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