[2020 National Audit] "Charging Higher Fees Without Notice While Mixing 5G and LTE"

Woo Sang-ho "Only 15% Usage Time, Yet 5G Fees Charged Assuming 100% Use"
Jeon Hye-sook "Poor Guidance on Non-5G Areas... Allowing Only 5G Plans Is Unfair"

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Criticism has arisen that mobile carriers are charging high fees or failing to properly inform customers about LTE plan subscriptions while unable to provide smooth 5G services.

At the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee’s audit on the 7th, Representative Woo Sang-ho (Democratic Party) pointed out, "The 5G service usage time is only about 15%, yet the highest-priced plan is charged at 130,000 won assuming 100% usage, which is excessive profiteering," adding, "In the U.S., 5G services are available based on LTE, and it is clearly notified that the 5G service is not perfect."

Representative Woo explained, "It is unreasonable to charge over 100,000 won assuming that 5G is fully serviced," and added, "The fee structure should be simplified to a fixed-rate model with 3-4 tiers of unlimited data plans."

When asked whether the government would approve a proposal to simplify the 5G unlimited data plan tiers if submitted, Minister Choi responded, "If the proposal brought is deemed appropriate, it will be approved."

On the 7th, at the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee's audit of the Ministry of Science and ICT, Assemblywoman Jeon Hye-sook (right) is questioning Minister Choi Ki-young.

Representative Jeon Hye-sook (Democratic Party) also pointed out, "Overseas, it is informed in advance that 5G services are available based on LTE, and an additional fee is charged to use 5G on LTE plans," adding, "Our mobile carriers have not stabilized 5G services, yet they do not use the term 'mixed use,' which causes consumer dissatisfaction."

Representative Jeon said, "Proper notification about areas not supported by 5G is not provided, and many people do not know what LTE priority mode is, so they suffer losses when charged fees," and pointed out, "The high number of YouTube views on videos about switching 5G phones to LTE is evidence of consumer inconvenience."

Representative Jeon stated, "When the Galaxy Note10 was released, countries like the U.S., the U.K., and France accepted subscriptions to LTE plans, but Korea only accepted 5G plans, which is unfair," and added, "If selling 5G phones requires subscribing to dedicated plans, at least there should be no talk about instability causing the use of LTE priority mode."

In response, Minister Choi explained, "The issue has been resolved by improving the system so that 5G phones can subscribe to LTE plans," but added, "I think the reason the U.S., the U.K., and France accepted LTE plan subscriptions is because 5G was not widely deployed there."

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