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Government says none of the three candidates met its eligibility criteria.
South Koreans will have to wait even longer for a fourth mobile operator, after the government rejected applications from all three candidates.
Yonhap reported on Friday that the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) concluded that none of the companies fulfilled its eligibility criteria.
The prospective market entrants – Sejong Telecom, K Mobile, and Quantum Mobile – were judged by a panel of 16 experts on their financial, service, and technological capabilities, as well as their plans to safeguard customers’ privacy.
According to the report, the successful applicant needed the panel to award it a score of at least 70. Quantum Mobile was the top scorer, but still only managed 65.95. Sejong Mobile came second with 61.99, while K Mobile scored 59.64.
"All three firms lacked credibility and viability of their fund-raising plans, and they also lacked detailed plans on ways to establish networks and provide services," the ministry said, in the report.
This is the seventh time since 2010 that South Korea has invited, then rejected, applications for a fourth mobile licence, as part of a strategy by MSIP to stimulate greater competition to the country’s big three operators – SK Telecom, KT Corp and LG Uplus – in a bid to lower the price of mobile services.
This most recent attempt was initiated in May 2015.
