Mobile firms unveil 'unlimited' LTE plan
LG Uplus CEO and Vice Chairman Lee Sang-chul explains its new mobile pricing plan at a news conference at The Westin Chosun in downtown Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Kim Yoo-chul
The country’s three mobile carriers said Wednesday they will introduce discounted subscription programs for heavy users of smartphones working on the LTE wireless network.
LG Uplus, the smallest out of the three, said it will enable its customers to use unlimited data-downloading, voice calling and messaging services with a monthly payment of between 62,000 and 67,000 won, according to the company.
“Customers can use all our services by paying a fixed amount of fees,” the firm’s Vice Chairman and CEO Lee Sang-chul said at a press conference in downtown Seoul.
The vice chairman said the new service will help expand its customer base.
LG’s move follows massive government sanctions on telecom firms. The government imposed business suspensions on them on a rotational basis for continuously offering illegal subsidies to mobile users.
SK Telecom also announced a similar subscription program for users of LTE-embedded phones.
The firm said it will start offering its customers all SK’s telecom services with a minimum monthly payment of 61,250. SK also unveiled similar unique services.
If a customer wants to call or use data-downloading services between 7 and 9 a.m. or between 6 and 8 p.m., then that customer needs to pay only 9,000 won, monthly.
LG Uplus’s CEO said local carriers spend over 8 trillion won only for marketing, annually, hitting smaller carriers. SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus hold 50 percent, 30 percent and 20 percent of market share, respectively.
KT also announced a subscription program that is not very different from those offered by SK and Uplus.
KT said it will let its customers use unlimited data and voice calling services through a monthly price range between 60,000 and 62,000 won.