SK Telecom again took a sole lead in the high-speed Internet market last year. Representing around two thirds of overall subscriber increase, SK Telecom’s subscriber count exceeded two million for the first time.
According to statistical data from the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning on the 19th, SK Telecom’s accumulated high-speed Internet subscriber count as of November last year was recorded as 2.03 million. Since resuming the sale of SK Broadband’s high-speed Internet product in 2010, SK Telecom’s subscriber count rose to more than two million for the first time in five years. It has also been found that the company’s market share exceeded 10% (10.5%).
As the subscriber count increased by 310,000 from the year before, SK Telecom recorded a growth rate of 18%. This is way above the overall high-speed Internet market growth rate of 2.5%.
The scale of SK Telecom’s net subscriber increase is equivalent to 64.5% of 480,000 subscribers in total. This means that SK Telecom is solely drawing in subscribers in the high-speed Internet market.
The number of SK Broadband’s subscribers decreased by 80,000, and thus the growth rate dropped by 2.8%. This company’s subscriber count is decreasing each year, such as from 3.29 million in 2011 to 2.76 million last year. The industry analyzes that this phenomenon has been resulted from SK Telecom and SK Broadband respectively focusing on retail sale and wholesale.
However, with the two companies put together, SK affiliates’ total subscriber count last year was 4.79 million, which increased by 230,000 from the year before, and thus a growth rate of 5% was achieved. This is a trend of continuous increase since the subscriber count of 4.18 million in 2011. According to this trend, it is forecast that SK will be able to have more than five million subscribers this year. Ranked in the second place, SK affiliates are in hot pursuit of KT (8.15 million subscribers), the No. 1 high-speed Internet service provider. LGU+’s subscriber count last year was 3.01 million, which increased by 90,000. KT and LGU+’s growth rates last year were 1.1% and 3% respectively, which are relatively lower than that of SK.
In relation to the high-speed Internet service growth as such, SK Telecom and SK Broadband had been associated with the issues concerning combined products and transfer of controlling power in the mobile communications market. However, following Fair Trade Commission in 2013, Korea Communications Commission also made a decision of acquittal last year. Nevertheless, as competitors continue to express opposition, the embers of controversy still remain.
Having taken over SK Broadband (Hanaro Telecom at the time) in 2007, SK Telecom has been reeling in high-speed Internet subscribers by reselling wired products since 2010. Competitors claim that SK Telecom is misusing its dominant position in the mobile communications market with combined products.