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S. KOREA'S MOBILE CONTENT MARKET SHRINKS DUE TO UNFAIR PRACTICES
SEOUL, Jun 04, 2009 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) --
South Korea's mobile content
market shrank in 2008 due to unfair business practices between
mobile-service carriers and content providers, the country's
telecom regulator said Thursday.
According to the Korea Communications Commission, the local
market for mobile-phone content, including music, gaming and
video, was worth 1.9 trillion won (US$1.53 billion) in 2008,
compared with an estimated 2.58 trillion won in 2007 and 2.97
trillion won in 2006.
The market for mobile downloads had been growing at an
annual rate of more than 15 percent from 2005 to 2007, when it
peaked at 5.78 trillion won.
The most popular downloads include ringtones, music and
games.
"Content providers need a guaranteed profit in order to
provide quality-services," said an official at the commission.
"But mobile operators occupy a superior position in the
business, leading to unfair trade practices with content
providers."
Each of South Korea's three mobile operators, SK Telecom Co.
(KSE:017670), KT Corp. and LG Telecom Ltd. (KSE:0332640), has
control over what content appears on their mobile networks,
which are less open than the Internet.
The South Korean government will seek measures to open the
networks to content developers and allow subscribers to access
the mobile downloads more freely, the commission said.
As part of the measures, in April the government eliminated
a regulation passed in 2005 requiring that all mobile phones
delivering Internet access use the home-grown software "WIPI."
The software is considered to be ineffective for some Internet
portals that provide services in a more user-friendly way.
(Yonhap)
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