This year, the three major mobile carriers?SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus?have introduced about 50 different plans. These include various options such as mid-tier 5G plans, youth plans, and senior plans. They are evaluated as contributing to expanding consumer choice. But can they actually reduce people’s household communication expenses?
Youth Plans Around 30,000 KRW per Month
The new youth plans offer 20-50% more data than regular 5G plans with the same price. Shared and tethering data are also provided up to 100GB.
The cheapest plan is SKT’s '0 Youth 43.' The '0 Youth 43' plan offers 6GB of data for 43,000 KRW per month. If you use the online-only (Direct) plan, you only pay 30,000 KRW per month. The '0 Youth 59' plan provides 36GB of data for 59,000 KRW per month. This is 12GB more monthly data than the existing basic 5G plan. While KT and LG Uplus offer youth plan benefits only to users aged 29 and under, SKT extends youth plan benefits to users aged 34 and under.
If you use about 10GB of data per month, LG Uplus’s '5G Youth Slim+' is suitable. The '5G Youth Slim+' offers 10GB of data for 47,000 KRW per month. Users who consume 40GB to 70GB monthly can choose LG Uplus’s '5G Youth Simple+' (61,000 KRW) or '5G Youth Data Regular' (63,000 KRW).
KT automatically applies data benefits without separate registration. When subscribing to a regular 5G plan, the basic data is doubled automatically based on age criteria.
Senior Plans Starting at 10,000 KRW
Plans for users aged 65 and older have also been introduced. The average monthly price is around 40,000 KRW, with data allowances between 8 and 15GB. Seniors aged 80 and above can use 8 to 10GB of data for about 10,000 KRW per month. These plans apply a 25% selection discount and welfare discounts for basic pension recipients (up to 12,100 KRW per month), with prices ranging from 39,000 to 44,000 KRW per month. The cheapest plan is LG Uplus’s '5G Senior Type C (80+),' which offers 10GB of data for 39,000 KRW per month. Among the three carriers, LG Uplus provides the best benefits. Its age-based plans are about 1,000 KRW cheaper than those of SKT and KT.
Users in Their 30s to 50s
For users in their 30s to 50s, the three carriers have designed 5G plans with fine-tuned options. They introduced 'customized plans' where users can combine data options based on a base plan costing 59,000 KRW per month. By adding 2,000 to 9,000 KRW, users can increase their data allowance. Users who consume 50GB per month can use LG Uplus’s or KT’s 63,000 KRW plans.
The reason the three carriers have launched various plans is to respond to government pressure to reduce communication costs and competition from MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators). The government has identified household communication expenses as a major cause of high inflation. There is also an intention to prevent youth and seniors from switching to MVNOs. In May alone, 117,513 subscribers switched from the three major carriers to MVNOs, the highest number since MVNOs launched 11 years ago.
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