Samsung fails to stop early release of Galaxy S5

Samsung Electronics failed to keep its new Galaxy S5 smartphone from going on sale early in South Korea on Thursday as SK Telecom Co and other carriers try to work around penalties imposed by the national regulator.

The world’s largest mobile phone maker planned to release the phone on April 11, yet that date would be in the middle of state-imposed suspensions preventing SK Telecom and KT Corp. from doing business. LG Uplus Corp’s suspensions surround that date.

Samsung is getting drawn into a battle among Korean carriers for users, with illegal discounts prompting the government regulator to limit their ability to sign up new customers for 45 days. Samsung is counting on the marquee device to maintain its lead in a global smartphone market where it competes with Apple Inc. for high-end shoppers and Chinese producers including Xiaomi Corp. target budget buyers.

“We are very puzzled,” Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung said in an e-mailed statement. “SK Telecom strongly asked for an earlier release of the product but we delivered our stance that the global release date of April 11 remains unchanged.”