The Ministry of Science and ICT has started to explore a fourth mobile carrier to promote competition in the telecommunications market. Among the three companies that were judged eligible for 28GHz frequency allocation in December last year, the frequency will be finally allocated through an auction.

The Ministry of Science and ICT began a private auction at 8:30 AM on the 25th at the Korea Internet & Security Agency Seoul office in Songpa-gu, Seoul, with the participation of three corporations (Sejong Telecom, Stage X, MyMobile) that applied for 28 GHz band frequency allocation from November 20 to December 19 last year.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced a plan to promote competition in the telecommunications market in July of last year to improve the competitive structure of the telecommunications market and reduce telecommunications costs.

On January 10, the Ministry of Science and ICT notified all three companies that they were qualified after reviewing their documents.

In order to ease the burden of early market entry, this auction will be conducted with a minimum competitive price of 74.2 billion won, down from the previous 207.2 billion won, and up to 50 rounds. When moving to the next round, the next round bidding price will be determined by adding up to 3% of the previous highest price.

The first day will consist of 6 rounds, and if no conclusion is reached, it will move on to the second day, and thereafter, 8 rounds will be held. If two companies give up, the remaining one will win the frequency.

Additionally, if a single bidder is not decided, the project moves to a sealed bid, in which the company that bids higher than the minimum bid amount set by the government wins the bid.

Ahead of the auction, the three applicants said they would do their best to achieve a good result, but were tight-lipped about their auction strategy.

The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to announce the interim results of the auction every day at 6 p.m. starting on the 25th.

Once the fourth mobile carrier is confirmed through a frequency auction, the new operator will be allocated a dedicated frequency in the 26.5–27.3 GHz band (for three years) and an anchor frequency in the 700 MHz band, and will be required to build 6,000 network infrastructures.

The government reduced the minimum competitive price from 207.2 billion won to 74.2 billion won, and the number of mandatory network constructions from 15,000 to 6,000. The payment method for the allocation fee was improved from the existing equal installment to incremental installment. After entering the market, roaming on other companies' networks is possible in areas where the company's network has not been built.