South Korea has now become one of the world’s leading mobile service markets with the
launch of its advanced LTE services; the LTE service subscription rate in Korea has exceeded
50% as of November 2013. This development raises the question of how LTE service subscribers
may differ from 3G service subscribers. Within the context of this rapidly changing
environment of mobile service markets, this study examines the validity of the traditional
determinants of customer satisfaction in data-service oriented mobile communications
markets, analyzes the effects of customer satisfaction and switching costs on customer loyalty,
and assesses the difference between 3G and LTE subscribers with respect to their
determinants of customer loyalty. The results show that there are significant differences
between 3G and LTE subscribers while traditional factors such as call quality, data quality,
customer support, and price perception are still significant determinants of customer
satisfaction.