Network Governance in the Korean Telecom Market

Abstract

Mobile communication is one of the major innovations in the history of telecommunications, as great as the telegraph and radio. The advent of wireless communications, liberating customers from the physical constraints of a fixed telecommunication network, signaled a major shift in paradigm. As the US government and the telecom equipment manufacturers pressured the Korean government to open the country’s market, the government started to open its telecom market to competition in the late 1980s. The Korean regulatory regime in the domestic mobile telecom market evolved in three phases: government monopoly, centralized network governance, and flexible network governance. Each phase of development corresponded to a unique transformation of the mobile telecom market and mobile technology. In each phase, major players in the telecom industry interacted and changed the relationship between the state and private sector.