South Korea’s smart cards shipments is expected to increase by 6.2% in 2010, estimated to reach 49.6 million units, up from 46.7 million units shipped in 2009, according to a report from Frost & Sullivan.
According to the report, South Korea smart cards market forecasts to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6% (2009-2015), with 7.1% year-on-year growth in 2015 and total smart card shipments of 68.7 million units.
The research firm noted that the SIM application was the second largest smart card usage at 33% with 15.4 million of card shipments in 2009. Although South Korea’s mobile penetration stands at close to 99% in 2009, the firms analyst believes that convergence is the next big thing which is expected to keep smart card SIM shipments in demand.
Navin Rajendra, industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said: "Like in neighbouring Japan and Taiwan where mobile services are mature, the mobile phone is seen as the most appropriate form factor for convergence. 3G and 4G phones are hugely popular in South Korea and telcos are already trialing pilot projects to enable NFC (Near Field Communication) and contactless payments.
"The introduction of new tools for mobile applications would necessitate higher capacity SIM from the standard 128kb and 144kb currently used in the country, and SIM capacity upgrades every three years are the norm in South Korea."
