MSICT closes application for 4th mobile carrier

[Courtesy of Sejong Telecom, Stage Five, and Mirae Mobile]

An application for frequency allocation, aimed at forming the country’s fourth official mobile carrier and part of South Korea’s plan to stimulate competition in an industry dominated by three monopolistic mobile carriers, closed with three candidates.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced Tuesday that after closing applications for the 28GHz band for mobile communications (IMT), Sejong Telecom Co., Stage X, and My Mobile Consortium applied for frequency allocation nationwide.

The authority will now review their eligibility and then run a frequency bid after notifying the trio of the eligibility results.

As a mobile virtual network operator that borrows networks from existing mobile carriers, the latest bid is Sejong Telecom’s second after its first try-out in 2015. “This bid may provide us the opportunity to explore new driving engines of growth,” according to the MVNO operator.

StageX is a corporation created by MVNO operator Stage Five. It applied for the race as a consortium with Shinhan Investment & Securities Co.

Mirae Mobile Co. submitted the application using its consortium name, My Mobile Consortium, instead of the company name.

The ministry has also introduced incentives to reduce entry barriers for new operators and enhance competition in the telecommunications sector. In the upcoming bid, the competitive price will start from 74.2 billion won ($74.2 billion), one-third of the price for the three existing carriers in previous bids. As part of the conditions, the new carrier must build 6,000 base stations over three years after frequency allocation, half the number mandated for the existing carriers.

But industry experts are concerned that the candidates’ capabilities could make it challenging to compete with the exiting three carriers.

“The candidates lack the experience in participating in frequency bids, so the ministry will make sure to give them proper explanations, to help them place a fair bid,” according to Choi Woo-hyuk, director of the Radio Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT.