5G Subscriber Share at 18%... Approaching 13 Million by End of January

[Asia Economy Reporter Joselgina] The number of 5G mobile communication subscribers is approaching 13 million, continuing its upward trend. The increase in January was the largest since the commercialization of 5G.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT's January wireless communication service subscriber statistics on the 28th, the number of 5G subscribers reached 12,869,930, an 8.6% increase (1,018,557) from 11,851,373 subscribers in the previous month.

This is the highest monthly increase since the commercialization of 5G in April 2019. The rise in subscribers is attributed to the release of mid- to low-priced 5G plans by telecom companies last month. By telecom company, SK Telecom had the highest number of 5G subscribers at 5,963,297, followed by KT with 3,923,610, and LG Uplus with 2,976,343.

The proportion of 5G subscribers among the total mobile communication subscribers (70.69 million) also expanded from 7.2% a year ago to 18.2% last month. As 5G subscribers increased, the number of LTE subscribers decreased by nearly 660,000 in one month to 51,895,599.

Meanwhile, as of the end of January, the number of 5G MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) subscribers was 6,680, an increase of 775 from the previous month (5,905). The total number of MVNO subscribers also increased by more than 100,000 from 9,111,285 to 9,215,943.

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