우리나라 통신산업 재무상태와 시사점

초록

This study analyses the financial status of the Korean telecommunications industry and its regulatory implications. To this end, the study first analyses profitability, growth, investment and dividend trends of four major (fixed and mobile) Korean telecommunications companies since the late 1990s, and compares them to those in other domestic industries. It shows that all the financial indicators are markedly deteriorating in the telecom sector. The study also provides a brief review of major theoretical and empirical literature concerned with the investment behavior of firms regulated by the government. Special attention is paid to an inverted-U shaped relationship between innovation (investment) and competition (profitability) in the telecommunications industry. This study emphasizes that government regulatory bodies need to focus more on the development and implementation of regulatory policies favoring dynamic efficiency by helping the telecommunications industry restore its financial soundness and giving firms stronger incentives to invest and innovate.

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