'019' Number Disappears... LG Uplus Ends 2G Service in June

25 Years Since Commercialization in 1997
Government Grants Conditional Approval for User Protection
Network Dismantling to Proceed Until June

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] LG Uplus, the only one among the three domestic mobile carriers to operate 2nd generation (2G) services, will terminate the related business. It has been 25 years since the service was commercialized in 1997. Following the government's approval of the business closure under user protection conditions, network dismantling will proceed until June.

Government Approves LG Uplus 2G Service Termination

On the 25th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it approved LG Uplus's '2G business closure approval application' with conditions for user protection.

LG Uplus applied for closure approval in January this year, but the Ministry of Science and ICT rejected it once due to the need to supplement the user protection plan. Afterwards, the company reapplied for closure approval on April 7, and after five on-site inspections, three expert advisory meetings, and hearings, final approval was granted.

LG Uplus has been the only provider of 2G services since KT and SK Telecom ended their 2G businesses early in 2012 and 2020, respectively. With this approval, the network is expected to be dismantled by the end of June when the 2G frequency allocation period expires.

The Ministry of Science and ICT required LG Uplus to proceed with the closure process only after at least 14 days have passed since the approval date to ensure users are fully informed, and to actively notify users of the closure through at least two methods such as postal mail from immediately after approval. User protection periods were also set for each stage of the closure.

The Ministry stated, "We focused on reviewing the user protection plan to ensure that existing LG Uplus 2G users do not bear additional costs or experience inconvenience when replacing devices or changing plans," and "We conditionally approved to ensure the user protection plan is faithfully implemented during the closure process."

Maintaining 10 Types of 2G Plans... Number Change Service Until Year-End

The full-scale termination of 2G services will proceed sequentially from the 11th of next month. The 2G service will be terminated in the order of regions: Gyeongsang, Gangwon, Sejong, Jeolla, Jeju, Chungcheong provinces → Gwangju, Daegu, Daejeon, Busan, Ulsan metropolitan cities → Gyeonggi Province, Incheon metropolitan city → Seoul special city.

For the remaining 140,000 users who must switch to LTE or higher services due to the 2G closure, LG Uplus will support either a 300,000 KRW device purchase subsidy or provide 15 types of free devices when selecting LTE or higher services within LG Uplus. Additionally, users can choose between a 10,000 KRW monthly discount for two years or a 70% discount on the usage plan for two years. Furthermore, even after 2G ends, the existing 10 types of 2G plans can continue to be used on LTE. A subsidy of 50,000 KRW will be provided upon 2G cancellation or switching to another carrier.

To alleviate the fee burden, LG Uplus supports users who wish to use some 2G plans on LTE and provides a number change notification service that connects to the changed number until the end of this year.

Numbers starting with 019 and other 01X numbers will be maintained until the end of June when 2G services end. LG Uplus plans to inform users about the 2G service termination timing and user protection programs through text messages and website announcements to prevent customer confusion.

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