SKT's Return Is Winding the Industry's Wits

As SK Telecom (CEO Yoo Young-sang) returns to new operations only for eSIM, the telecommunications market is showing signs of catching fire again. The industry believes that the three telecommunications companies will watch the situation in the beginning and will compete fiercely after the Terminal Distribution Act is abolished on July 22.

According to related industries on Wednesday, 2,600 T-World stores nationwide, SK Telecom's agency, resumed operation on Monday morning for e-Sim only. Unlike SIM, which is physically inserted into a terminal, e-Sim is a subscriber identification module built into a smartphone.

SK Telecom's new subscription has yet to be released, but it has been 43 days since May 5. The Ministry of Science and ICT gave administrative guidance to stop recruiting new subscribers before resolving the shortage of new subscribers in May, and SK Telecom followed suit.

In the meantime, SK Telecom's subscribers have declined sharply. The number of subscribers decreased from May to 405,530, marking a sharp drop from a daily net income of 100.

According to the statistics on wireless communication services of the Ministry of Science and ICT, SK Telecom registered 22.92 million mobile phone lines in April this year, accounting for 40.08 percent of all mobile phone lines, barely keeping the 40 percent level. During the same period, KT accounted for 23.45 percent (13.413,968), 19.22 percent (10.992,877) of LG U+, and 17.24 percent (9.861,974) of affordable phones.

The number of SK Telecom subscribers decreased by 180,163 from 23.1 million,423 (40.40 percent share) in March last year. Notably, SK Telecom maintained 23 million subscription lines since December 2023 (22.98 million, 1,548 units), but fell back to 22 million in 16 months.

The industry believes that SK Telecom is likely to release subsidies significantly while watching the situation to recover its share. An industry official predicted, "We will release subsidies significantly, but we will try to watch the situation more."

If SK Telecom releases subsidies, chances are high that KT (CEO Kim Young-sup) and LG Uplus (CEO Hong Bum-sik) will not stay put and join the competition. Even before SK Telecom was suspended from joining, the three telecom service providers engaged in a fierce competition for subsidies. SK Telecom wanted to prevent the rush of subscribers leaving after the hacking accident, and KT and LG U+ wanted to take up the demand for SK Telecom customers leaving.

"I don't think it's time for a competition right now," another official said. "After the abolition of the Terminal Distribution Law, it's time for a proper competition. The operation will take place for about a month."

fun3503@chosunbiz.com