SKT, KT, LG Uplus on edge as gov't urges competitiveness in telecoms market

• Published date: 23 February 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus ? the three major mobile carriers here ? are on edge, in what is a highly oligopolistic marketplace, as the government is moving to promote competition by ushering in new service operators or urging mobile carriers to come up with more user-friendly mobile data plans, according to the ICT ministry, Monday.

"The mobile operators need to look back on whether the industry is complacent rather than pursuing competition or innovation," Park Yun-kyu, second vice minister of science and ICT, said during a task force meeting on finding measures to promote competition in the telecom market that was attended by experts from academia, state-run agencies and the government in Seoul.

"We've seen the damage caused by market failures, such as a series of service disconnections, customer information leakage and cybersecurity attacks. If we don't fix the market environment, the telecommunications industry could be culled and the public will have to bear the damage," the vice minister said.

The task force was launched as a follow-up measure to President Yoon Suk Yeol's Feb. 15 order for measures to increase competition in the telecom market so that users will be able to pay less for mobile data.

During an emergency economic meeting...