Ministry of Science and ICT Launches Inspection to Protect Altteul Phone Users

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The government is launching an on-site inspection to verify whether budget phone operators are properly adhering to user protection guidelines during service provision. This measure aims to improve user satisfaction with protection, which remains at a low level despite the growth of the budget phone market.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 17th that it will conduct a user protection inspection targeting budget phone operators. The budget phone market has been steadily growing due to government activation policies and industry efforts. As of April, budget phone subscribers numbered 9.45 million, accounting for 13.2% of the mobile phone market. In particular, last year, by promoting policies to activate innovation across the budget phone service-device-distribution ecosystem, the monthly subscription applications on the comprehensive budget phone portal ‘Altteul Phone Hub’ increased more than threefold, and the number of postpaid budget phone subscribers rose by over 10% (420,000), showing significant effects.

However, satisfaction with user protection remains low, and complaints continue to occur. According to last year’s budget phone service perception survey by the Budget Telecommunications Operators Association, satisfaction with customer service and A/S of budget phone operators was 48.5%, lower than satisfaction with rates (84.5%) and call quality (72.8%).

The Ministry of Science and ICT has been inspecting the user protection status of budget phone operators since last month. The main inspection points include whether the user protection plans submitted during budget phone business registration are being implemented and compliance with the ‘Guidelines for User Protection of Budget Phones’ established in 2014. Last month, all budget phone operators were asked to submit written self-inspection results, and this month, on-site inspections will be conducted on 15 major budget phone operators. Based on the inspection results, the ministry plans to request corrections of legal violations or improvements in work procedures for any deficiencies found per operator.

Jung Changrim, Director of Telecommunications Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “Through the user protection inspection of budget phones, we expect to enhance the level of user protection in the budget phone industry, secure user trust, and contribute to becoming a genuine competitive player in the mobile telecommunications market.” He added, “The guidelines established in 2014 and currently in operation will be revised to reflect market conditions and opinions from the budget phone industry.”

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