LG Uplus Overtakes SK Telecom to Become No. 2 in the MVNO Market for the First Time

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] LG Uplus has surpassed SK Telecom in the MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) market to rise to the second position for the first time.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT's wireless communication service subscriber statistics on the 2nd, as of the end of April, the number of MVNO subscribers using KT's network was 5,024,313, those using LG Uplus's network were 2,232,002, and those using SK Telecom's network were 2,194,395, in that order.

While KT and LG Uplus increased by 28,116 and 77,508 subscribers respectively compared to March, SK Telecom decreased by 17,426 subscribers, causing LG Uplus, which was previously third, to rise to second place for the first time. It is also the first time that SK Telecom, which had maintained second place after KT, has fallen to third.

SK Telecom's MVNO network usage share was 43.8% in December 2018 but has declined for 28 consecutive months, dropping to 23.2% in April this year. During the same period, KT's and LG Uplus's shares increased from 46.5% to 53.2% and from 9.7% to 23.6%, respectively.

Industry analysts attribute this to KT and LG Uplus actively targeting the MVNO market amid stagnation in the mobile communication market, while SK Telecom, as an MVNO network mandatory provider that must negotiate wholesale fees with the government annually, has failed to present adequate defensive measures.

Another factor is that KT operates two MVNO subsidiaries, KT M Mobile and KT Skylife, and LG Uplus operates two, LG HelloVision and Medialog, whereas SK Telecom operates only one, SK Telink. LG Uplus acquired LG HelloVision in 2019, and subsequently, KT strengthened its MVNO market offensive last year when KT Skylife entered the MVNO market.

Meanwhile, 5G mobile communication subscribers surpassed 15 million just over two years after the service commercialization. According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, the number of 5G subscribers reached 15,147,284, an increase of 671,266 (4.6%) from the previous month. It took about 2 years and 1 month since the service commercialization on April 3, 2019, for 5G subscribers to exceed 15 million. Compared to the times at the end of last year and early this year when the release of the iPhone 12 and Galaxy S21 series led to monthly increases of over 1 million subscribers, the growth rate has slowed but remains high. The number of 5G subscribers by carrier was SK Telecom with 7,065,005, KT with 4,602,833, and LG Uplus with 3,471,770, in that order.

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