eSIM Commercialization and Introduction of Mid-Tier Plans Show 'Minimal' Impact on Telecom Market Activation

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] The activation effect of the telecommunications market following the commercialization of eSIM (embedded Subscriber Identity Module) and the introduction of mid-tier plans has been minimal. Despite the introduction of eSIM, the number of mobile number porters actually decreased, and the increase in 5th generation (5G) subscribers due to the launch of mid-tier plans showed little difference compared to last month.

According to the "Mobile Number Porting Status" released on the 6th by the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association (KTOA), the number of mobile number porters last month, when the eSIM service was launched, totaled 354,723, a 7.2% decrease from the previous month (382,352). This is the first time this year that the number of porters fell to the 350,000 range. The number of porters has been on a declining trend this year: 437,276 in January, 378,817 in February, 379,092 in March, 365,842 in April, 383,519 in May, 374,998 in June, and 366,294 in July. The market share of porters by operator was SK Telecom 23.6%, KT 16.0%, LG Uplus 18.0%, and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) 42.4%, indicating a high number of moves within MVNOs.

Although there were many expectations that the telecommunications market, which had been stagnant, would be revitalized by the introduction of eSIM services, the analysis shows it remains quiet for now. The embedded digital SIM, eSIM, is integrated into the device during smartphone manufacturing and provided to consumers. It was anticipated that the ability to use "one phone with two numbers" and subscribe to different carriers would increase subscriber numbers and invigorate the number porting market.

No changes were detected following the introduction of mid-tier plans either. In response to criticism that 5G plans only offered products with data usage of either 10GB or less or 100GB or more, limiting consumer choices, SKT introduced a 24GB plan, KT a 30GB plan, and LG Uplus a 31GB plan starting in August. According to wireless communication service statistics released by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the number of mobile subscribers in August was 55,574,002, slightly down from 55,612,879 in the previous month. There was also little migration from LTE to 5G services. LTE subscribers decreased from 47,238,894 in July to 47,149,486 in August. The number of 5G subscribers grew from 25,132,888 in July to 25,714,871, but the growth rate slowed. MVNO subscribers increased by 202,405 in August, similar to the previous month.

Meanwhile, as of July this year, the traffic per subscriber by mobile device type showed that 5G smartphones (27.9 GB) used 3.3 times more data than LTE smartphones (8.4 GB).

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