A senior government official on Monday hinted at the possibility of opening the door of the South Korean mobile communications market to a foreign operator as part of its effort to enhance competition.
“We will give adequate policy support to a company in accordance with its request. If it wants to hold more than 49 percent stake in a mobile carrier or it prefers indirect investment, we will deal with it,” Park Yun-kyu, vice minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, told reporters during a press event in the central city of Sejong.
“It means we will address financial problems that a new operator faces,” he added.
South Korea’s current communications law bans foreigners or businesses with 15 percent or higher foreign ownership from holding more than a 49 percent stake in local mobile carriers.
The comment came in line with the South Korean government’s efforts to lower the entry barrier to the local communications market, which has long been dominated by three domestic players — SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp.
The three companies have recently lost their licenses for 28 gigahertz spectrum, a high-speed 5G network frequency band, due to a lack of investment.
Last week, the ICT ministry announced a set of plans and incentives, including the exclusive rights to use the 28 GHz frequency for five years, to attract new mobile operators in a bid to enhance competition in the oligopolistic network market and provide better high-speed network service for people.
Source: Yonhap News Agency