KCC Reports 477 Telecommunications Dispute Applications in First Half of Year... KT Leads in Number

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-sun] A petitioner in their mid-30s had a frustrating experience after purchasing a device. Trusting the sales outlet's guidance that the device could be purchased cheaply, they activated a mobile phone, but contrary to the information provided, the full device cost was charged. The Korea Communications Dispute Mediation Committee found evidence that the sales outlet incorrectly informed the petitioner as if benefits unrelated to the device were applied to the device cost, and proposed a cancellation of the activation as a mediation agreement to the respondent (telecommunications company).

The Korea Communications Commission announced the "Telecommunications Dispute Mediation Results for the First Half of This Year" on the 26th. The Dispute Mediation Committee received a total of 477 telecommunications dispute mediation applications and processed 312 cases. Among these, 263 cases, or 84.3%, were resolved through agreement or acceptance.

The telecommunications dispute resolution rate for the first half of this year was 84.3%, an increase from 72.7% in the same period last year. The unresolved rate, which refers to cases closed without mediation (15.7%), also improved significantly.

Regarding the number of telecommunications dispute applications in the wireless sector, KT had the highest with 141 cases (39.9%), and KT also had the highest number of applications per 100,000 subscribers at 0.8 cases. In the wired sector, KT had the most cases with 53 (42.7%), but SK Broadband had the highest number of applications per 100,000 subscribers at 0.5 cases.

By type of telecommunications dispute (both wired and wireless combined), contract-related issues (41.5%) and important information explanation and notification issues (41.5%) were the most common, followed by service quality issues (13.8%). Among the total 477 applications, 197 cases (41.3%) demanded compensation. In the wireless sector, issues related to important information explanation and notification (47.9%) were most frequent, while in the wired sector, contract-related issues (69.4%) were most common.

By operator, the dispute resolution rate in the wireless sector was highest for KT (87.5%), followed by SK Telecom (77.4%) and LG Uplus (76.3%). In the wired sector, KT (93.7%) and LG Uplus (93.7%) had the highest resolution rates, followed by SK Telecom (83.4%) and SK Broadband (78.9%).

Applications for 5G-related telecommunications disputes surged from 76 cases in the first half of last year to 218 cases in the first half of this year. The 5G telecommunications dispute resolution rate also rose sharply from 44.7% to 84.7%. By operator, the 5G dispute resolution rates were KT (88.1%), LG Uplus (81.8%), and SK Telecom (80.0%).

To enhance the reliability of dispute mediation, the Dispute Mediation Committee has been conducting on-site inspections for telecommunications quality disputes upon the applicant's request since June. Additionally, as disputes related to app market usage have been included in the scope of telecommunications dispute mediation, a special task force for the app market has been formed and is operating, handling app market dispute mediation tasks as well.