The Three Major Telecom Carriers Unify New Smartphone Pre-Orders to 'One Week Before Release'

Joint Announcement on Improvement of Subscription Reservation Procedures

[Asia Economy Reporter Joselgina] SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus, the three mobile carriers, have taken a joint step to unify the reservation period for new devices to one week before the official launch of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S20. This move comes from the judgment that competition to secure customers intensifies every time a flagship device is released.

On the 10th, the three carriers jointly announced the 'Improvement Plan for New Device Pre-Order Procedures.' They determined that the overheating competition during device launches is caused by indiscriminate operation of pre-order procedures, and proposed improvements focusing on ▲ advance notice standards for new device subsidies ▲ unification of new device reservation periods based on ID scanner operation standards ▲ operation standards for pre-order period incentives for new devices.

First, the three carriers will maintain the announced subsidy during the pre-order period without changes until the official launch date, and if there is a subsidy change upon confirmed announcement on the launch day, only upward adjustments will be allowed to prevent user damage.

Regarding the pre-order procedure, based on the ID scanner operation standards that apply exceptions only for one week before and two weeks after a new device launch, the reservation period will be unified to one week before the launch. Last year, the pre-order period for the Samsung Note10 was 11 days, while the LG V50S and iPhone 11 had one-week periods.

Additionally, considering frequent fraudulent sales such as inducement of illegal subsidies and non-payment of paybacks at the time of new device launches, sales commissions paid to retailers will no longer be announced during the pre-order period. This is because chronic problems such as market overheating and user discrimination caused by excessive sales commissions have been recurring.

The three carriers stated, "Ahead of the Galaxy S20 pre-orders, we will conduct regional sales site inspections and actively promote guidance activities to prevent recurrence of violations of the Device Distribution Act."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.