Candidates for the fourth mobile carrier have been finalized regarding the nationwide allocation of the 28GHz frequency band.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that, as a result of receiving applications for frequency allocation for mobile communication (IMT) from November 20 to December 19, three companies—Sejong Telecom, StageX, and My Mobile Consortium—applied for frequency allocation on a nationwide basis.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced last July that if two or more corporations apply for the 26.5–27.3 GHz band (800 MHz width, anchor frequency 700 MHz band 20 MHz width), it will allocate the frequency through an auction. Accordingly, the Ministry has commenced a review of whether the applicant corporations are subject to disqualification under the Radio Waves Act and the Telecommunications Business Act, and plans to commence the frequency auction after completing the notification of eligibility for each applicant corporation within one month.

Stage X is a joint venture between Stage Five, a budget mobile phone operator, and Shinhan Investment & Securities. This is Sejong Telecom's second attempt since challenging for the fourth mobile carrier license in 2015. It plans to focus on B2B and operate the business based on its experience in operating budget mobile phones and Eum 5G (a specialized 5G network).

Also, the My Mobile Consortium, established in 2012, is centered around 'Future Mobile'. In a recent interview with e4ds news, Lee Kyung-soo, Senior Advisor at Mirae Mobile (former Head of KT Network Strategy Division), stated, “Although the 28GHz band requires high network construction costs, it is an important resource for business planning,” and argued, “If the highly efficient 2.3GHz is utilized together, investment in 28GHz can also be sustained.”

However, the industry is expressing concern over the lack of applications from large corporations for the 28GHz band, which was cancelled after even the three major mobile carriers failed to monetize it. While the 28GHz band offers a wider bandwidth and faster speeds than the existing 3.5GHz band, it has the disadvantages of a shorter signal range and the inability to penetrate walls. Consequently, it requires a larger number of nationwide base stations. Although the government drastically reduced the minimum competitive allocation price to 74 billion won and the required number of base stations from 15,000 to 6,000 to lower market entry barriers, it still demands astronomical costs.

It is predicted that the reason large corporations previously mentioned, such as Kakao, have given up is that fear regarding monetization still remains. Questions are being raised as to whether mid-sized companies, as potential new operators, can meet the mandatory network deployment quota and proceed to actual operation to establish themselves as a fourth mobile carrier capable of keeping the current three major carriers in check. Consequently, attention is focused on what support measures the Ministry of Science and ICT will propose for companies applying to become the fourth mobile carrier.

Choi Woo-hyeok, Director General of the Radio Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “All of the corporations applying for allocation this time are operators with limited experience in frequency auctions. The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to provide sufficient time for explanations to ensure smooth participation in the auction, and we will devote ourselves to fair auction management to enable good-natured competition among new operators.”