The price is far higher than operators expected, and depends on the rollout of 5G base stations.
A move to protect consumers: On 30 November 2020, South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) published a plan to reassign the spectrum currently used for 2G, 3G, and 4G. These licences will expire in June 2021. The MSIT aims to reallocate the spectrum to the same operators (SKT, KT Corp and LG Uplus) because consumers still need time to transition away from 2G and 3G, and 4G is still in high demand.
The price will depend on deployment progress: The price proposed by the MSIT depends on the number of 5G base stations operators will deploy by 2022 (it will be lowest if they hit the 120k target, and highest if they deploy between 60k and 80k base stations). It varies between KRW3.17tn (USD2.9bn) and KRW3.77tn (USD3.4bn) for a period of five to seven years, depending on the band.
Operators are unhappy: Operators initially proposed a much lower figure compared to the Government’s plan, i.e. KRW1.65tn (USD1.5bn). The MNOs are now calling on the Government to reassign the spectrum through an auction.
