In South Korea, one out of every two mobile subscribers now has a 4G/LTE device, according to new data from GSMA Intelligence. But what’s even more interesting is the difference in how 3G and 4G subscribers used their connections in that country. Since SK Telecom launched its first LTE network back in the second half of 2011, data usage on 4G phones has more than doubled, while data consumption on 3G devices has remained flat.
The conclusion may seem a bit obvious since people who buy newer, fancier smartphones tend to gravitate toward more data-intensive applications, but GSMA Intelligence lead analyst Calum Dewar thinks there’s more to the trend. South Korea has reached critical mass in both coverage (100 percent of the population is now under the 4G umbrella) and speed, leading to consumers changing their behavior. In particularly, Many Korean wireless users have stopped hunting for Wi-Fi connections, choosing instead to keep their connections on the LTE network. (GigaOm)
