Meeting with Park Yoon-gyu, 2nd Vice Minister of Science and ICT
Project scale reduced from 100 billion KRW to 70 billion KRW
No support for new 28GHz operators
The Ministry of Science and ICT will announce a policy improvement plan allowing large corporations to participate in public software (SW) projects above a certain scale. They are also considering lowering the initially set project scale of 100 billion KRW.
Park Yoon-kyu, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, announced this at a press briefing held on the 28th.
The government has restricted large corporations' participation by enacting the Software Industry Promotion Act in 2013 to prevent monopolization of public SW projects by large companies and to foster small and medium-sized SW enterprises. However, earlier this year, the Regulatory Innovation Promotion Team of the Office for Government Policy Coordination selected the restriction on large corporations' participation in public SW projects as a regulatory improvement task and has been pushing for policy improvements. Recently, voices demanding policy improvements have grown louder due to the administrative network outage incident.
Vice Minister Park said, "Excluding large corporations in principle is a very strong regulation. Even if such strong regulation is necessary for market conditions and the development of the software industry, it needs to be done wisely." He added, "However, the current system has many shortcomings in that regard." He continued, "We have created various improvement measures not only regarding the amount. We will announce them as early as this week, or by next week at the latest."
Vice Minister Park said, "When a project can significantly affect the public or involves a complete overhaul of the system, a lot of development capability is required, so in such cases, the capabilities of large corporations should be utilized." He also stated, "We have been discussing this even before issues arose with the administrative network, the National Education Information System (NEIS), and the next-generation social security system," adding, "In June, through a public hearing, we developed various improvement measures beyond just the financial threshold."
The Ministry of Science and ICT proposed in June an improvement plan allowing large corporations to participate in public SW projects exceeding 100 billion KRW and collected opinions. They are also considering lowering the initially proposed project cost threshold of 100 billion KRW. Vice Minister Park said, "There have been opinions that the 100 billion KRW amount is too high, so we are listening to opinions with room for adjustment," adding, "We are also considering 70 billion KRW as an alternative." It is known that the policy improvement plan includes consortium composition ratio scoring, subcontracting proportions, and other factors. Furthermore, he said, "As announced by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, budget support is needed for maintenance and other areas. There is a need to make the budget more realistic," and added, "I fully agree with this opinion and will consult with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to develop high-quality software going forward."
Regarding the recruitment of new 5G 28 GHz frequency band operators, which began on the 20th, he said, "No applications have been received yet. Typically, applications come in at the last moment," and added, "We hope that capable new operators will definitely enter the market." About the subway Wi-Fi service using the 28 GHz frequency band, which expires on the 30th, he said, "It would be desirable if a new operator emerges, but it does not seem likely," and added, "We plan to prepare and announce a service through Eum5G (5G specialized network). We will announce it as soon as possible to avoid inconvenience to subway users."
As 5G plans diversify, there are concerns about price inversion with LTE plans in some segments. Vice Minister Park said, "In principle, LTE plans should be lowered," but added, "From the telecom companies' perspective, if LTE prices are lowered, the transition to 5G is delayed, and the advancement of the 5G network is hindered. We will consider how to harmonize LTE and 5G plans."
Regarding delays in legislation of the AI Basic Act, he said, "We explained it to the bill subcommittee members, and they mostly agreed," but added, "However, there was an opinion that voluntarily marking watermarks (identification codes) on AI-generated content and legally mandating such markings are different matters and require careful consideration." On the currently expired obligation for wholesale provision of MVNO services, he said, "I hope to resolve the permanent wholesale provision in cooperation with the National Assembly within this year."
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