KT·SK Broadband "One Month Fee Compensation for Small Businesses Due to Internet Outage"

KT and SK Broadband have proposed compensation plans including a one-month fee reduction for small business subscribers in response to the recent wired internet outage.

On the 12th, KT posted a notice stating that individual subscribers will receive a fee reduction equivalent to one day of internet and IPTV service plus ten times the outage duration, while small business subscribers will receive a fee reduction equivalent to one month of internet service.

The reduction will be automatically applied to this month's bill issued next month without any separate application process. SK Broadband also announced a compensation plan with the same details through a notice.

From 4:57 PM to 9:58 PM on the 5th, some subscribers using KT and SK Broadband experienced inconvenience due to inability to access wired internet.

It was identified that the outage was caused by excessive internet traffic generated during AhnLab's firewall replacement work on some Mercury wireless routers (AP) installed by the two companies.

LG Uplus stated that although some subscribers who personally installed ipTIME routers experienced outages, these devices were not supplied by LG Uplus and therefore are not eligible for compensation.

The routers that experienced internet access outages were all found to use chips from MediaTek, a Taiwanese semiconductor design company (fabless).

The exact cause of the outage has not yet been determined, and the telecommunications industry is likely to first provide compensation and then seek reimbursement from the responsible provider once identified.

According to data submitted to Rep. Park Chung-kwon of the People Power Party by the telecommunications industry and government, outages occurred in approximately 43,000 routers among KT subscribers and about 20,000 among SK Broadband subscribers. For LG Uplus subscribers, since the equipment was personally purchased, accurate calculation is difficult.