Minister Lee Jong-ho of the Ministry of Science and ICT Holds Meeting with Telecom and Broadcasting Industry
Cable TV and Home Shopping Ease Inflation Burden with Commerce Broadcasting and Discount Benefits
Early Payment Secures Liquidity for Partner Companies
Minister Lee Jong-ho of the Ministry of Science and ICT is holding a video meeting with heads of telecommunications and broadcasting companies on the morning of the 5th at the Ministry of Science and ICT video conference room in Sejong Finance Center, Sejong Special Self-Governing City. Photo by Ministry of Science and ICT
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] As the Chuseok holiday approaches amid a resurgence of COVID-19, the telecommunications industry is supporting voluntary social distancing during the holiday by offering free video calls and special Chuseok content. They are providing free data to young people and taking steps to stabilize livelihoods. The broadcasting and home shopping industries are easing the burden of rising prices and stimulating consumption through regional channel commerce broadcasts and various discount and reward benefits.
On the morning of the 5th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that Minister Lee Jong-ho held an online meeting with three heads of corporate organizations: Koo Hyun-mo, Chairman of the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association; Lee Rae-woon, Chairman of the Korea Cable TV Broadcasting Association; and Cho Soon-yong, Chairman of the Korea TV Home Shopping Association.
This meeting was held to discuss support measures for stabilizing livelihoods and promoting win-win cooperation in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. Attendees also included Song Gu-young, President of LG HelloVision; Cho Sung-ho, CEO of Gongyoung Home Shopping; Kang Jong-ryeol, President of ICT Infrastructure at SK Telecom; Jung Soo-heon, Head of Consumer Business Division at LG Uplus; and Lee Sang-hak, Executive Vice President of the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association.
During the meeting, various support measures were discussed across sectors including telecommunications, regional cable TV, and home shopping.
Telecommunications Industry Offers Free Chuseok Video Calls, Content, and Data
Telecom operators have decided to support livelihood stabilization by providing free video call and content usage fees during the Chuseok holiday, as well as waiving data usage fees and providing data support for youth using job search sites.
With voluntary social distancing expanding due to the resurgence of COVID-19, the three mobile carriers agreed to offer free video calls for four days during the Chuseok holiday (September 9?12) to all telecom users, including those subscribed to budget phone services. Additionally, SK Telecom and LG Uplus will provide content accessible via mobile apps during the holiday.
SK Telecom will offer six free special Chuseok movies through the 'A.Dot' app, while LG Uplus will showcase 16 free special Chuseok movies via the 'U+ Mobile TV' app.
To support the economic activities of youth, data usage fees will be waived from September to December for young people aged 19 to 29 using five job search sites operated by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. Each telecom company will also run data provision promotions targeting youth.
SK Telecom will provide two data refill coupons (monthly data allowance) usable over four months from September to December; KT will offer 2GB of data for up to three months; and LG Uplus will provide 2GB of data for up to six months.
Economic Revitalization Through Chuseok Commerce Broadcasts... Minister Lee Jong-ho Provides Support
The cable TV industry will run a regional channel commerce broadcast service called 'Chuseok Agricultural and Specialty Products Exhibition' until the 18th to support regional economic revitalization during Chuseok.
This year, the number of participating comprehensive wired broadcasting operators (SOs) has increased from five last year to six, and the product sales regions have expanded from 62 to 87.
LG HelloVision is conducting the 'Smart Young Farmer Project' in collaboration with the Rural Development Administration to support young farmers in developing distribution channels.
They will also produce content in cooperation with local traditional markets to help traditional market merchants sell their products and support broadcasting transmission. Minister Lee plans to personally appear on the cable TV regional channel commerce broadcast 'Paldo Rice Festival' to lend his support.
Home shopping companies will offer various discounts and reward benefits to consumers on food and daily necessities during Chuseok. GS, Lotte, CJ, SK Stoa, and Shinsegae Home Shopping will conduct discount and reward events ranging from 5% to 20% across various product categories compared to the previous year. Gongyoung Home Shopping will sell essential food and daily necessities (including meat, fish, kimchi, rice, soups, toilet paper, detergents, and 11 other items) at prices similar to the same period last year despite rising product costs.
Early Payment to Secure Liquidity for Partner Companies
Ahead of Chuseok, support measures for win-win cooperation such as early payment of funds to small and medium-sized partner companies, distribution networks, and small business owners facing difficulties in their livelihoods will be implemented. Telecommunications and IPTV operators (SK Telecom, KT, LG Uplus, SK Broadband) will make early payments totaling approximately 136.6 billion KRW before Chuseok.
The three telecom companies will also make early payments of about 260 billion KRW in commissions to distribution networks and provide low-interest loans of about 20 billion KRW to help secure liquidity for distribution networks.
Approximately 390,000 small business owners using telecom-exclusive products can apply to receive an additional 50GB of mobile data per month for two months. For small business owners facing difficulties who request temporary suspension of telecom services (high-speed internet, dedicated lines) due to reasons such as business closure or temporary shutdown, the suspension period will be extended from 3 months to 6 months to alleviate the burden of fee payments and the procedures for cancellation and re-subscription.
Additionally, 10 home shopping companies (GS, Lotte, CJ, Hyundai, NS, Home&Shopping, Gongyoung, TRN, SK Stoa, W Shopping) will make early payments of approximately 110 billion KRW for product sales proceeds to about 4,000 partner companies that generated sales in August to support liquidity for small and medium-sized partners.
To promote coexistence with small business owners and SMEs, TV broadcasts featuring reduced sales commission rates for excellent products from small partners and regional products will be scheduled for over 500 hours with 450 companies by the end of the year.
The Korea Post Service Headquarters will expand the number of youth companies eligible for discounts on post office parcel services from 500 to 615 since April.
Preparing for Communication Failures During the Holiday... Voice Phishing Alert
Long holidays like Chuseok are vulnerable periods for failure response and accidents. Telecom companies will operate emergency duty systems to ensure the stability of communication services. They will conduct pre-quality inspections and optimizations, capacity expansions on highways and major crowded areas, and operate 24-hour control rooms for rapid response.
Furthermore, to prevent voice phishing such as smishing that may occur before the Chuseok holiday, they will strengthen guidance by sending warning messages about voice phishing to all mobile communication users.
Minister Lee stated, “It is necessary to actively promote the various support measures for livelihood stabilization and win-win cooperation with SMEs discussed at the meeting so that the public can be well informed and benefit from them. As the strongest typhoon in history is approaching the Korean Peninsula, I urge thorough inspections of key facilities such as base stations and broadcasting transmission equipment and full preparedness for the typhoon.”
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