KCC: As of October 2011, the number of smartphone users in South Korea exceeded 20 million

October 31, 2011 South Korea's telecom regulator said on Sunday that the number of smartphone users in South Korea, one of the world's most wired countries, reached 20 million last week, accounting for 40% of the country's total mobile phone users.

Data released by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) showed that as of last Friday, the number of smartphone users in the country just exceeded 20 million, of which 10 million were users of SK Telecom, the country's largest mobile service operator, while Korea Telecom (KT) had 6.8 million and LG Uplus had 3.3 million.

Passing the 20 million milestone also means that 80% of South Korea's 25 million economically active population are smartphone users who have signed contracts with mobile service operators. Since the launch of Apple's iPhone in the country in November 2009, the number of smartphone users in South Korea has been growing rapidly. According to KCC, the number of smartphone users in South Korea was 810,000 at the end of 2009, and reached 7.2 million at the end of last year.

Industry experts predict that the smartphone market will become the fastest-growing segment in South Korea's already saturated mobile service market as service operators focus on offering faster large-data transmission Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology services to early customers.