Mobile Phone Activation via KakaoTalk... 9 ICT Regulatory Sandbox Cases Processed

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] In the future, mobile phones can be activated on KakaoTalk without going through mobile carrier stores. Regulations on platform taxis have also been further relaxed. Services related to shift changes, which are currently only possible at garages under the law, have been permitted to be conducted remotely.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 1st, at the 10th New Technology and Service Deliberation Committee (ICT Regulatory Sandbox Deliberation Committee) held the previous afternoon, a total of nine regulatory sandbox agenda items, including non-face-to-face mobile subscription services, were reviewed and processed.

The Stage Five consortium, consisting of the MVNO operator Stage Five, KT, and Kakao Pay, and KT each applied for temporary approval for a service that allows users to activate mobile phones after completing identity verification through the authentication methods provided by each company during non-face-to-face mobile subscription. Under the current Telecommunications Business Act, only certified electronic signatures, credit cards, and mobile phone SMS authentication were allowed as identity verification methods for non-face-to-face telecommunications subscriptions.

With the committee granting temporary approval, the applicant companies can now provide non-face-to-face mobile subscription services using Kakao Pay Certificate or multi-factor authentication technology. The government expects this to revitalize the MVNO market, expand user convenience, and prevent illegal customer information leaks and user damages caused by offline activations.

Kakao Mobility, KM Solution, and KST Mobility applied for a pilot exemption for the 'Shift Change Service Outside Garage,' which allows platform taxi (franchise taxi) drivers to remotely perform vehicle inspections, transport record transmissions, driver shift changes, and dispatch management outside the garage. The committee decided to allow shift changes outside the garage limited to franchise taxis in Seoul using the applicants' mobile taxi platforms and to gradually expand the scope of the pilot in stages.

Accordingly, it is expected to help increase transportation company and driver revenues, improve driver shift change convenience, reduce ride refusals, and prevent illegal subcontracted taxis through remote identity verification.

The committee granted a pilot exemption for KM Solution’s ‘Platform-Based Temporary Taxi Driver Qualification Operation’ applying a platform-based control system. The pseudonym taxi service (KST Mobility), which allows users in Seoul to prepay various fare products such as prepaid fare plans based on app meters, also received temporary approval. The service will be available for up to 500 taxis in the Seoul area. This service is expected to improve taxi service quality management and user convenience and contribute to mobility innovation by early implementation of platform transportation franchise businesses.

Additionally, services such as Warp Solution’s real-time testing of long-distance multi-wireless charging stands at optimal frequencies to verify the safety and effectiveness of RF-based long-distance multi-wireless charging technology applied to products, and Chilling Kitchen’s food truck shared kitchen service that allows online rental of related facilities to preprocess or semi-cook food sold at food trucks, also passed the review.

Jang Seok-young, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, expressed expectations, saying, "This deliberation committee newly designated tasks necessary for daily life, such as mobile subscription services supporting non-face-to-face services, services that make shift changes convenient for taxi drivers, products that can wirelessly charge multiple information communication devices simultaneously, and shared kitchen services that can reduce business costs for food truck operators, which will enhance convenience."

Since the implementation of the Hanpun ICT Regulatory Sandbox system, a total of 176 tasks have been submitted, and 150 have been processed so far.