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The company won spectrum in the 28 GHz band earlier this year
The South Korean Science Ministry has announced it will revoke the license of new mobile carrier, Stage X, for failing to meet the legal requirements to run its business.
Stage X is the country’s fourth mobile operator (after SK Telecom, LG U+, and KT), and is owned by a consortium led by tech giant Kakao Corp. and other unnamed partners. It has not met set requirements, which include paying the paid-in capital of KRW 205 billion ($149 million) that was due last month.
The ministry has since requested additional reasoning and compliance from the company but the problems are still unresolved. Therefore, the ministry will launch proceedings to revoke the company’s license before formally cancelling it.
“We concluded the capital raising claimed by Stage X could not be trusted and that it would be difficult to properly carry out the business if the capital specified in the allocation application was not properly secured,” said second Vice Science Minister, Kang Do-Hyun in a press conference.
A representative of Stage X, Seo Sang-won has refuted the claims, saying “we submitted a plan to the government and are proceeding accordingly, but they suddenly ignore it and say it is wrong. If I understand the government’s argument, I will accept it, but I think it is unreasonable.”
It was only in February this year that Stage X emerged as the winner of a spectrum auction, placing a bid of $322.1 million for a licence in the 28 GHz (‘mmWave’) band. The newly established company was due to launch services in 2025.
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