SEOUL — South Korean telecom regulators on Wednesday approved the sale of Apple's iPhone in a market currently dominated by local handset manufacturers.
The US firm's smartphone has been a worldwide hit but its debut in Korea was delayed by concerns that its location services such as "Find My iPhone" and "Google Maps" would breach a privacy law.
The Korea Communications Commission said in a statement such services would be unlikely to encroach on privacy.
Apple will launch its model through KT Corp, the country's number-two mobile service provider. KT officials said they plan to start selling iPhones next month.
More than nine in 10 South Koreans own a mobile phone, opening up a potentially large market for the iPhone.
"The number of iPhone buyers will hinge on the price of the handset and the rate plan," Park Jong-Soo, an analyst at Hanwha Securities, told Yonhap news agency last month.
"However, securing 500,000 or even one million subscribers would not be difficult."
KT's deal with Apple could also dent the dominance of SK Telecom, which currently has a 50.5 percent share of the local mobile market compared to KT's 31 percent.
