One Day Before Penalty Waiver Ends: Over 260,000 Leave KT in Record-Breaking Final Mobile Number Porting Surge

Over 50,000 Customers Leave KT in a Single Day on January 12
Three Out of Four Former KT Users Choose SKT

Yonhap News Agency

On January 12, one day before the end of KT's penalty waiver policy for contract cancellations, the number of customers leaving KT surpassed 50,000 for the first time.

According to the telecommunications industry on January 13, the number of mobile number portability cases and KT’s daily customer departures on the previous day reached record highs since the penalty waiver began. As the weekend passed, the total number of mobile number portability cases on Monday exceeded 90,000, marking the highest volume during KT's penalty waiver period.

KT’s daily customer departures also exceeded 50,000 for the first time since the penalty waiver began on December 31, 2025, reaching 50,579. With weekend activations added, a surge in traffic after 10 a.m. the previous day caused system errors.

Three out of four customers leaving KT are choosing SKT. SKT has been running a program since April 19, 2025, that fully restores membership duration and membership level for customers who rejoin after canceling their SKT line between April 19 and July 14, 2025.

The cumulative number of customers who have left KT has reached a total of 266,782.

As this day marks the final day of the penalty waiver period, the industry expects a continued surge in large-scale customer departures.