Fair Trade Commission Investigates KakaoT's Abuse of Power in Excluding Competitor Franchise Taxis from Dispatch

Suspicions of 'Call' Restrictions by Competitors like Uti and Tada
Recently Reexamined Due to Kakao 'Outage' Incident

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Kakao Mobility, the operator of the KakaoT service, is under suspicion of restricting competition by not providing calls (passenger requests) to competitor affiliated taxis such as Wooty and Tada. In this regard, the Fair Trade Commission is conducting an investigation.

According to Kim Heegon of the People Power Party and others on the 19th, the Fair Trade Commission received a report from a civic group last September that Kakao Mobility blocked the use of KakaoT passenger dispatch services for some affiliated taxis of other companies and is currently investigating.

Participation Solidarity and the Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) reported to the Fair Trade Commission that "Kakao Mobility, which holds over 80% market share in the taxi call brokerage service market, unilaterally suspending its brokerage services to competitor affiliated taxis constitutes abuse of market dominance and unfair trade practices prohibited by the Fair Trade Act."

KakaoT also provides general call services to non-affiliated taxis, but excluding only competitor app affiliated taxis from the service is unfair and restricts consumer choice. Although this was reported in the media at the time of the report, it has been re-examined recently as interest in platform monopolies has increased following the recent Kakao 'blackout' incident.

‘Multi-homing restrictions’ that hinder the use of competing platforms are competition-restricting acts that solidify market monopolies. Separately, the Fair Trade Commission is also investigating allegations that Kakao Mobility concentrated calls on affiliated taxis (KakaoT Blue). The investigation has already been completed and the case was submitted to the commission in April. A plenary session will be held in the future to make a final judgment on the violation of the law and determine the level of sanctions.