According to KCC(Korea Communications Commission) and SK Telecom, SK Telecom, the leading mobile operator in Korea, will make online marketplace for mobile application in 2009. SK Telecom invests 100 billion won to provide the service, people can sell and buy mobile contents, by next June.

For this service, SK Telecom will provide severs, payment systems and SDK to public. Also SK Telecom is planning to invite the public to join in a prize contest for creative ideas, and support them for commercialization. SK Telecom already set up the team for this mobile contents marketplace.

While smartphone usage is increasing in Korea, SK Telecom seems to need to build its competitiveness in mobile contents through business model like Apple’s App store.

In Korea, the power of mobile operator is very huge at mobile market, so this movement of SK Telecom will affect Korean mobile market in any ways for sure. It might open Korean mobile operators’ closed policy for mobile contents. However, like SK Telecom’s previous plan for mobile contents or internet, it could make walled garden at Korean mobile market more.

KCC (Korea Communications Commission) allowed Voice over Wibro service from next year. KCC is hoping that Wibro market will be more active with this decision. Wibro subscribers in Korea are  only 200 thousand since its launching in 2006.

KT are expected to start mobile network business by itself with its Wibro network. If KT will provide mobile network business with Wibro, the cost will be cheaper than other MNOs’ operating cost.  KCC decided to assign the remaining frequency for Wibro, 2360 ~ 2400 MHz, to new operator preferentially. KCC is also considering to assign 2.5 GHz to new Wibro operator. Due to this, Cable TV operator and other company could begin mobile network business through Wibro.

Today, KCC will allow to use 010 access code, mobile phone prefix in Korea, for Wibro operator. That means Wibro operators can provide mobile network service like existing MNOs. If more companies are comming mobile network industry with Wibro network, more various mobile services would be available for Korean customers.

Now VoIP is hitting Korean communication market. From October 31 number portability for VoIP has began to apply, which means that people were able to change their fixed phone to VoIP without changing phone number. Previously, people should change their phone number to VoIP number beginning 070. New VoIP subscribers moved from fixed phone subscribers increased by 10 thousand for only four days since October 31. Also by November 27th, VoIP subsciber moved from fixed phone has increased by 100 thousand.

This growth of VoIP is mainly due to cheaper price, which is cheaper up to 85% comparing fixed phone. Because of economic depression, VoIP market growth will be more accelerated.  IDC Korea forecasted that Korean VoIP market will increase upto 1.4 trillion won (around 1.1 billion US dollar using current exchnage rate) by 2011 with 53% annual market growth rate.

In Korean VoIP market, LG Dacom firstly launched VoIP for home, myLG070. After that SK Broadband, Samsung Networks and KCT(Korean Cable Telecom) started to chase LG Dacom. Moreover KT, the fixed phone market dominator currently, also started to tap into Korean VoIP market even though they could cannibalize their fixed phone business.

Still VoIP marekt is much smaller than fixed phone(PSTN) market, but increasing rate is increasing more and more. Also some people is pointing out that VoIP would be the main issue for bundling such as DPS, TPS or QPS from 2009, not broadband whch has been the main item for bundling so far. In that reasons, VoIP market competition would be fiercer.