The Korea Herald

지나쌤

SKT sees sharp rise in iPhone 5 subscribers

By Korea Herald

Published : Dec. 9, 2012 - 20:09

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South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. saw the net number of subscribers sharply rise on the first day that Apple Inc.’s iPhone 5 made its debut in Korea, industry data showed Sunday.

Apple’s iPhone 5 made its belated debut in South Korea on Friday with SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp., Korea’s two biggest mobile carriers, kicking off the release of the first iPhone that runs on the Long Term Evolution network.

SK Telecom lured a net 9,555 subscribers on Friday while its rivals KT Corp. and LG Uplus saw the net number of subscribers decline by some 8,400 and 1,100, respectively, according to industry data.

SK Telecom provided the LTE service to over 6 million users as of end-October with a plan to raise the figure to 7 million by the end of this year. KT offered the service to 2.8 million as of end-October and LG Uplus Corp.’s LTE users reached near 4 million.

LG Uplus was not designated as a local mobile carrier for the iPhone 5.

Local mobile carriers’ earnings were squeezed this year as their moves to lure subscribers for the LTE service raised marketing costs, analysts said. (Yonhap News)