[2020 National Audit] 83.8 Billion Won of Unused Mobile Communication Mileage Disappeared Over 4 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Joselgina] It has been identified that over the past four years, unused mobile communication service subscribers' mileage that expired amounted to approximately 83.8 billion KRW. There are concerns about the low utilization rate of accumulated mileage.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Science and ICT to Yoon Young-chan, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, from 2016 to August of this year, cash-equivalent mileage worth 83.8 billion KRW from the three major mobile carriers expired. In contrast, the mileage used by subscribers of the three carriers during the same period was identified as 25.16 billion KRW, which is less than one-third of the expired amount.

By carrier, SK Telecom had the highest expired mileage at 43.8 billion KRW, followed by KT with 30.4 billion KRW, and LG Uplus with 9.65 billion KRW. In terms of usage amount, KT led with 16.7 billion KRW, SK Telecom had 7 billion KRW, and LG Uplus only 1.46 billion KRW.

The validity period for mileage from the three carriers is up to seven years from the time of accumulation. Although mileage can be used for communication fees and additional services, customer utilization is reportedly low. Representative Yoon stated, "Mileage worth over 80 billion KRW expiring without customers even knowing it is a loss to household economy," adding, "Active promotion of communication mileage usage is necessary to encourage use and strengthen consumer sovereignty."

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