To cater to diversified customer demand, as of April 2007, the combined offering of SK Telecom, KTF, and LG Telecom included more than 500 phone models. With information available for 473 of them, this report analyzes the adoption of various functionalities on mobile phones in the South Korean market.
Korean cellular operators are continuously exploring better revenue possibilities associated with emerging technologies. WiBro, the Korea version of WiMAX, has been in commercial service since 2006. KTF and SK Telecom are building an HSDPA network in addition to their existing CDMA infrastructure. The switch from CDMA to WCDMA/HSDPA provides a better foundation for operators to expand their data business, as well as new opportunities for domestic handset makers and content providers to go international.
South Korea has one of the most advanced wireless services and device markets in the world. In South Korea, all three mobile operators—SK Telecom, Korea Telecom Freetel (KTF), and LG Telecom—have adopted CDMA technology and have already migrated to a high-speed CDMA200-1X EV-DO network.