'The iPhone 12 Effect' 11.85 Million 5G Subscribers Last Year

Budget Phone Users Surpass 9 Million with 5 Consecutive Months of Growth

On the day Apple’s first 5G smartphone, the iPhone 12 series, was officially launched in Korea, citizens lined up at the Apple Store on Garosugil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul to purchase the product. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] At the end of last year, the number of 5G subscribers in South Korea reached 11.85 million. It is evaluated that the market growth gained momentum as competition for 5G smartphones and plans intensified following the launch of the iPhone 12.

According to the wireless communication service subscriber statistics from the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 29th, the number of 5G subscribers in South Korea as of the end of December last year was 11,851,373, an increase of 919,010 (8.4%) from the previous month.

This marks the second consecutive month with an increase of over 900,000 subscribers, following the previous month's (948,385) record monthly increase since the commercialization of 5G.

Although it fell short of the industry's initial target of 15 million subscribers set earlier this year, it approached the revised target of 12 million.

The industry views this as a result of intensified competition among companies to attract 5G subscribers, fueled by the continued success of the iPhone 12 launched at the end of October.

Samsung Electronics released the Galaxy S21 series early in January this year, and telecom companies have successively introduced mid-to-low priced 5G plans, leading to expectations that the growth rate of 5G subscribers will accelerate further this year.

The number of 5G subscribers by company was SK Telecom with 5,476,055, KT with 3,617,471, and LG Uplus with 2,751,942, in that order.

The total number of MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) subscribers reached 9,111,285, surpassing 9 million for the first time with an increase of 111,838 from the previous month (8,999,0447). The growth trend has continued for five consecutive months since the end of August last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.