Although 4G LTE remains the mainstream mobile communication technology in South Korea, the cumulative number of 5G users is expected to exceed 30 million by the end of April 2023, and the gap with 4G users is expected to narrow. According to DIGITIMES Research’s predictions, the total number of 5G users in South Korea is likely to exceed 4G by the end of 2024.
abstract
South Korea’s three major carriers are focusing on building 5G sub-6GHz (3.5GHz) base stations and gradually abandoning the use of 5G’s 28GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum. As a result, it is unlikely that South Korea will catch up with neighboring Japan in terms of the proportion of millimeter wave frequency bands in the world’s 5G base stations.
Since it takes about 1.5 years on average for the number of 5G users in South Korea to increase by 10 million, the cumulative number of 5G users will exceed 40 million by the end of 2024, officially exceeding the number of 4G users, which is gradually decreasing. Become.
Among South Korea’s top three carriers, SK Telecom (SKT) is the leader in terms of total number of mobile communications users and 5G users. Korea Telecom (KT) has maintained a stable market share of around 30% in the 5G segment since launching 5G services in 2019, but SKT’s share continues to rise and approaches 50%, while LG Eroding U+’s market share.
table of contents
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introduction
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Subscriber
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Figure 1: Cumulative number of telecommunications service subscribers by technology in South Korea, December 2019 to April 2023 (thousands)
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Figure 2: Cumulative number of 5G service subscribers by operator in South Korea, December 2019 to April 2023 (thousand units)
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Revenue, ARPU, capital investment
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Figure 3: Wireless business revenue of major Korean carriers, 2019-2023 Q1 (KRWt)
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Figure 4: Wireless business ARPU of major Korean carriers, 2019-1Q23 (KRWk)
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Figure 5: Cumulative number of service subscribers and 5G share of major Korean carriers, December 2019 to April 2023 (thousand units)
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Figure 6: Capital expenditures of major Korean carriers, 2019-2023 Q1 (KRWt)
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5G infrastructure
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Table 1: Deployment progress of mmWave and sub-6GHz base stations of major Korean carriers, 1H 2018 to 1H 2013 (k units)
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Figure 7: Share of Sub-6GHz base stations in major countries, 2020 and 2022
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Figure 8: Share of millimeter wave base stations in major countries, 2020, 2022
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summary
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