The South Korean communication commission today, announced that it will remove the regulatory hurdle that restricts foreign cellphone manufacturers to do business in South Korea.

The modified rule, that will becomes effective from April next year, will let cell phone carriers to choose any phone and not just domestic handsets, LG and Samsung that account for about 90 per cent of handset sales in South Korea.

The restriction was imposed in order to protect South Korea's big electronics manufacturers on their home turf but limited choices for the country's consumers and forced them to pay world’s highest prices for cell phones. The restriction even prohibited visiting executives in the country to use BlackBerry devices in the country.

The change has come during the nine-month old administration of President Lee Myung-bak, who promised in last year's campaign to move the country beyond the protectionist attitudes.

No doubt once the new rule comes in to affect, all major players in the cell phone manufacturing market like, Nokia, Apple, RIM, etc will flock the South Korean market. X

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WSJ