Telecom Lead Korea: SK Telecom has crossed 7 million LTE subscribers as of December 12, 2012 – just 17 months after launching the service.
The company expects to expand its LTE subscriber base to 14 million by the end of 2013.
SK Telecom launched the first LTE service in Korea in July 2011.
This 7 million customer achievement is significant for SK Telecom because the company achieved the same figure for 3G WCDMA service after two years and four months.
Korea has been ranked the world’s best country for high speed internet connectivity. Earlier in August Telecom Lead reported 4G LTE network users in Korea touched 8.4 million mark, and SK Telecom reported achieving its 4 millionth subscriber at that time.
SK Telecom’s LTE adoption got a boost since July 2012 when the company completed nationwide LTE deployment covering 99 percent of the nation’s population and commercialized Multi Carrier, a cutting-edge LTE technology that improves LTE network speed and performance.
Currently SK Telecom’s LTE subscribers take up 26 percent of its total mobile subscriber base, expanding 11 fold compared to the end of November 2011 when it reported 630,000 LTE subscribers, accounting for a mere 2.4 percent of the total.
One of the reasons for this growth is the launch of LTE-compatible iPhone 5. The company is adding a daily average of 60,000 customers, representing over 50 percent growth compared to the last month. SK Telecom expects to secure over 7.4 million LTE subscribers by the end of 2012 backed by strong sales of iPhone 5.
“SK Telecom smoothly achieved the year-end target of 7 million LTE subscribers backed by unmatched network quality, LTE-specialized services and a rich lineup of LTE devices,” said Jang Dong-hyun, executive vice president and head of marketing division of SK Telecom. “As LTE is expected to become the mainstream service in 2013, we will focus on developing and offering differentiated LTE services to deliver greater value and convenience for our customers.”
