By Yoon Ja-young
Mobile carriers are increasing advertising as part of the fourth-generation (4G) long-term evolution (LTE) war in a market expected to see over 10 million subscriptions this year. The commercials, however, are often criticizing and attacking rival firms.
LG Uplus has launched a newspaper advertisement for its LTE service. The two-page spread features two attractive women on the first page. On the next page, one remains good looking symbolizing LG but the other woman appears unattractive having deceived people with her looks, standing for SK Telecom.
LG, the smallest player in the local market, has bet on LTE to change the landscape and has made some progress. It is close behind SK, the perennial top player. LG has around 530,000 subscribers, while SK has some 700,000.
LG has stressed that it has wider coverage, currently offering LTE services in 84 cities, while SK is confined to 28.
It has emphasized its competitiveness as a nationwide network in earlier TV advertisements as well, comparing its rival to a motorcycle transforming into a tricycle when leaving Seoul. LG, meanwhile, remains as a sports car, speeding wherever it goes. “LTE must continue out of Seoul,” the advertisement says, stressing its coverage.
SK is not standing idly by. It shows popular actor Won Bin and another man each carrying LTE phones. While the man is perplexed to see his phone going on and off with an unstable LTE signal, Won Bin, whose phone works perfectly, smiles at him and shows the “T LTE” service logo on the back of the phone. The advertisement says the quality is on the reverse of the handset, trying to convince consumers that it has better network quality than LG Uplus even when using the same phone.
KT, the nation’s No. 2 mobile carrier, launched an LTE service as late as this month, but it has been running advertisements for its product for months. It is currently running commercials featuring Darth Vader from the “Star Wars” movies.
Mobile carriers have been the biggest advertisers in the country. According to the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation, the biggest advertiser in 2010 was SK Telecom, spending 64.4 billion won on broadcast ads. KT was second at 63.8 billion won. They were spending more than Samsung Electronics or Hyundai Motor, which are much bigger than the carriers in terms of market capitalization. There has been criticism that the mobile carriers should focus on cutting mobile rates for users if they can afford to spend so much on advertising.
This fight is expected to continue as carriers are betting big on LTE. It offers up to five times faster downloading than 3G and is rapidly eating up the mobile market, with the number of users surpassing 1 million only five months since its launch.
The industry expects the number of LTE users to reach between 10 to 15 million this year. “It is very difficult, if not impossible, to change the market share once it is set. We should bet all from the beginning of the competition,” a spokesman for a mobile carrier said.