LG Uplus Is Not Able to Carry Apple’ s iPhone 5 Due to Frequency Incompatibility

BizChosun – a Seoul-based newspaper, that the lack of the iPhone 5 on LG Uplus is due to frequency incompatibility.  SK Telecom and KT Corp are currently selling the iPhone 5, leaving LG Uplus as the only top carrier in South Korea not carrying the iPhone.

According to the report, the Korean iPhone 5 model was designed to utilize 800 Mhz, 1.8 Ghz and 2.1 Ghz frequencies for data and 2.1 Ghz for voice communication. Both SK Telecom and KT use 2.1 Ghz for their voice communications. However, LG Uplus utilizes 1.8 Ghz for its voice communication.

A recent KoreaTimes report stated that:

[quote] SK Telecom lured a net 9,555 subscribers on Friday while its rivals KT Corp. and LG Uplus saw the net number of subscribers decline by some 8,400 and 1,100, respectively, according to industry data.

SK Telecom provided the LTE service to over 6 million users as of end-October with a plan to raise the figure to 7 million by the end of this year. KT offered the service to 2.8 million as of end-October and LG Uplus Corp.’s LTE users reached near 4 million. LG Uplus was not designated as a local mobile carrier for iPhone 5.[/quote]

Source:  BizChosun,  KoreaTimes