Another good sign....Korea added 787,000 new subs in Jan.
koreaherald.co.kr
Mobile phone users top 24 million in Jan.
The number of Korean mobile phone users topped 24 million as of the end of January, the Ministry of Information and Communication said yesterday.
The five mobile phone operators gained a total of 787,000 new subscribers last month, boosting their subscription base to 24.23 million, the ministry said.
SK Telecom (011) had the largest subscriber base with 14.6 million, equivalent to 43.2 percent of the market. The company attracted 350,000 new subscribers, almost half of the total new mobile phone users in January.
SK's market share is expected to reach 56.7 percent if it concludes the planned merger of Shinsegi Telecomm (017), which ranked third with 3.27 million users, or a 13.5 percent market share.
Subscribers to second-placed Korea Telecom Freetel (016) totaled 4.38 million, or an 18.1 percent share last month, with addition of 117,000 new users.
The fourth-placed LG Telecom (019) was fast catching up with Shinsegi Telecom gaining 170,000 new subscribers. Its users totaled 3.25 million, or 13.4 percent. In contrast, Shinsegi's growth rate was the slowest with a mere 32,000 new subscribers.
The smallest among carriers, Hansol M.Com (018), is also moving up fast, garnering 116,000 new users to increase the total figure to 2.85 million, or an 11.8 percent market share. The growth is attributable to the company's new marketing strategy of targeting teenagers. (HJJ) |
