S. Korea's mobile content market shrinks due to unfair practices

By Kim Young-gyo
SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) -- 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., KT Corp. and LG
Telecom Ltd., 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.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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