LG Uplus has begun offering new data plans for the Long Term Evolution service from Thursday, almost doubling the data usage capacity offered by rival companies.

The third-largest player in the local telecom market said it has already provided the faster network service at cheaper prices than SK Telecom and KT Corp.

Amid a surge in data consumption among LTE smartphone users, the company said it has decided to increase the data capacity for same-priced monthly payment plans. 

Users of the 34,000 won plan would see their data usage capacity increase from 500 megabytes to 750 megabytes, while for those who pay 120,000 won per month the data capacity would jump from 13 gigabytes to 24 gigabytes.

Under the 72,000 won plan, for instance, users can watch high-definition videos for 15 hours, up from the existing nine hours, and download 1,700 music files.

Compared to overseas LTE operators like NTT Docomo and Verizon, its offering is still 34-76 percent cheaper, it said.

“We will continue to introduce competitive payment plans in order to secure more than 4 million LTE subscribers,” said an LG Uplus official.

The company is currently providing LTE services in 84 cities across the nation. It aims to complete the nationwide network covering every corner of the country by March, earlier than its rivals.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)