South Korea passes budget to encourage virtual operators to participate in 5G competition

South Korea's Ministry of ICT recently said that it has used the budget to encourage mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) to launch affordable network data packages to allow for more competition in the 5G market.

The ministry said 10 MVNOs in the country, including Sejong Telecom, will release new data plans starting this month that will offer 30GB of data for around 40,000 won ($35). The country's major telecom operators SK Telecom, KT and LG U plus currently do not have plans with similar data volumes and prices.

MVNOs, which lease network services from mobile operators, can often offer competitively priced network plans because they don't have to invest in infrastructure.

The launch of the new packages comes three months after the ICT Ministry changed management rules so that MVNOs can design 5G data packages independently, rather than working with telecom operators as in the past.

The ministry said the move is expected to boost competition in the local 5G market, which is currently dominated by three major operators. As of February, MVNOs had about 7,000 5G subscriptions, while total subscribers stood at 13.66 million.

Most South Korean mobile users have yet to migrate to the latest generation network since its commercialization in April 2019, with 73% of the total 70.83 million mobile subscribers using 4G and 19% using 5G. As of February, the total number of MVNO users was 9.27 million, of which 6.6 million subscribed to 4G networks.