CURRENT POLICY ISSUES IN THE KOREAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY

Abstract

In recent times the Ministry of Communications (MOC) of Korea has backed an ambitious drive to restructure the Korean telecommunications industry. The main focus of the plan can be summarized as the introduction of competition in some sub-markets traditionally operated by monopolists. Having seen remarkable growth in the past, Korea's telecommunications industry is now at a turning point, facing a new world of liberalization and competition that it has not experienced before. The industry expects to encounter many obstacles on a long and rough transitional path from the old government-led, equity-oriented policies to modern market-operated, efficiency-oriented policies. This article considers some of the hurdles that Korea's telecommunications industry may have to clear during its transition.