SKT: 1 Million USIM Replacements in Three Days... All Reservations to Be Notified by End of Month

Daily USIM Replacements Expected to Remain Around 300,000
"Conducting In-House Network Diagnostics with White Hat Hackers... Information Security Investments to Increase"

SK Telecom is accelerating the pace of USIM (Universal Subscriber Identity Module) replacements as it secures a full inventory of USIM cards. SKT aims to notify all customers who have made reservations for USIM replacement by the end of this month.

Kim Heesub, Head of SKT PR Center, announced during a daily briefing held at Samhwa Tower in Jung-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 22nd, "Over the past three days, more than 1 million customers have completed their USIM replacements," adding, "We have secured more USIM inventory than the number of customers who have made reservations, and are actively providing replacement notifications."

According to SKT, the number of customers who completed their USIM replacement on the previous day, the 21st, was tallied at 360,000. This is an increase from the 350,000 recorded the day before, marking the highest daily figure to date. The total number of customers who have completed their USIM replacement stands at 3.23 million, while the number of remaining reservations is 5.67 million. On the 21st, 23,000 customers completed their USIM reconfiguration.

Bongho Lim, Head of MNO Division at SK Telecom, is making an announcement during the daily briefing held on the morning of the 22nd. Photo by Myunghwan Lee

Bongho Lim, Head of SKT's MNO (Mobile Network Operator) Division, explained, "USIM replacements are continuing at a pace of about 300,000 cases per day," and added, "We plan to notify approximately 2.2 million customers who have not yet received guidance on USIM replacement or reconfiguration within this week, or at the latest, by next week." For customers who receive the replacement notification but do not visit a store, a second round of notifications will be conducted in early June.

A mobile service is also being provided for vulnerable groups and customers with limited access to retail stores. Lim stated, "During the first three days of the mobile service, we visited 29 locations and completed about 5,300 USIM replacements," and added, "Today, we plan to visit 13 locations, including Hapcheon, Uljin, Hwasun, Buan, and Boeun."

During the USIM replacement period, SKT is providing an interest-free loan of 5 million won for three months to retail stores where new subscriptions have been suspended, and is also supporting the interest on device installment receivables.

SKT is also conducting its own network diagnostics following the recent incident. Ryu Junghwan, Head of SKT's Network Infrastructure Center, said, "We are involving a group of renowned white hat hackers (security experts) in Korea, but cannot disclose detailed information at this time," adding, "We will take this opportunity to conduct a thorough diagnosis and strengthen our security."

When asked about plans to increase investment in information security, Ryu stated, "We are currently running simulations to determine the appropriate scale of investment in information security," and added, "Based on the results of our internal diagnostics, we will decide on the scale of additional mid- to long-term investments." Kim also commented, "The SK Group-level Special Committee for Information Security Innovation is conducting an assessment of our information security standards," and added, "I believe our investment in this area will likely increase compared to the current level."