Announcement of 'Household Communication Cost Burden Relief Policy'
19% of 5G Subscribers Use Mid- to Low-Priced Plans
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that as a result of policy efforts to reduce household communication expenses, 2 out of 10 5G users are using mid- to low-priced plans. It is expected that if users continue to seek reasonable plans, they will save about 530 billion KRW annually on communication costs in the long term.
On the 28th, Minister Lee Jong-ho of the Ministry of Science and ICT announced the "Current Status and Future Plans for Policies to Alleviate Household Communication Cost Burden" at the Government Seoul Office. Minister Lee introduced the achievements so far, including 5G plans priced in the 30,000 KRW range offered by the three mobile carriers SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus.
The carriers increased the data allowance for youth plans and expanded the eligible age from under 29 to under 34. They also launched many online plans, including 5G senior plans priced up to 20% cheaper than regular plans.
Additionally, the carriers revised their terms of service to allow 5G devices to subscribe to LTE plans and LTE devices to subscribe to 5G plans. Recently, carriers raised the switching support funds for number portability customers, and Samsung Electronics has been releasing mid- to low-priced devices consecutively.
As a result of these policy effects, the number of users choosing newly established mid- to low-priced plans exceeded 6.21 million as of last month, surpassing 19% of all 5G subscribers.
The proportion of unlimited plans, which was about 46% as of June 2022, decreased by approximately 14.7 percentage points (as of December 2023), significantly improving inefficient communication overconsumption, with users each finding reasonable plans.
Minister Lee expects the trend of downgrading plans to become more distinct and the degree of change to increase over time. He stated, "In the long term, it is estimated that more than 14 million people will experience an annual household communication cost reduction effect of about 530 billion KRW."
Minister Lee also stated that they are promoting competition activation by supporting the emergence of a fourth mobile carrier that will compete with the three major carriers in service and infrastructure, as well as MVNO operators.
He said, "We plan to actively address difficulties in processes such as joint use of existing communication networks, building independent networks, and device procurement and distribution to help new mobile operators settle in the market."
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