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[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] Last year, five major conglomerate affiliates, including subsidiaries of mobile carriers and KB Kookmin Bank, accounted for 60% of the total sales in the MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) market.

On the 30th, Park Wan-joo, an independent member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee, revealed this and said, "It is urgent to improve the system to ensure coexistence among the remaining 70 or so small and medium-sized operators."

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Science and ICT to the lawmaker's office, the top three in MVNO market sales over the past five years were subsidiaries of the three major carriers (KT M Mobile, Medialog, SK Telink). In 2020, when LG acquired CJ HelloVision, the top four companies in sales ultimately became subsidiaries of the three major carriers.

Since 2019, when the financial institution KB Kookmin Bank entered the MVNO market, the space for small and medium-sized operators has become even narrower, explained Rep. Park. Over the past five years, the sales of four subsidiaries of mobile carriers and one from KB Kookmin Bank amounted to a staggering 2.2418 trillion won, about 46% of total sales. In particular, last year's sales accounted for about 60% of the total sales.

The government introduced the MVNO system in 2010 to reduce household communication expenses and promote fair competition in the mobile communication market. As of July this year, about 12 years later, a total of 74 operators and 11.85 million subscribers have established MVNOs as a key pillar of the mobile communication market. Last year, MVNO sales exceeded 1 trillion won for the first time.

Rep. Park Wan-joo pointed out, "The MVNO market, introduced to check the monopoly of the three major carriers and promote coexistence with small and medium-sized businesses, has ultimately become another playground for large corporations as financial companies have also entered," and insisted, "It is urgent to improve the system to protect small and medium-sized operators." In particular, Rep. Park said, "Although the registration condition for subsidiaries of the three major carriers stipulates that the combined market share of subsidiaries should not exceed 50%, there are no sanctions or separate penalties if the 50% threshold is exceeded, so it is ineffective," adding, "Considering that the market share of the three carriers exceeded 50% as of February excluding MVNO IoT lines, the method of calculating market share and the sanction regulations for exceeding the limit should be supplemented."

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