"KT Compensation Equivalent to a Bowl of Gukbap," Byun Jae-il Pushes for Legal Reform on Communication Failures

Proposed Amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act
Automatic Fee Refunds and Indirect Damage Compensation Claims
Ban on New Recruitment in Case of Major Negligence-Induced Failures

On the 3rd, Byun Jae-il, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, took the lead in proposing a revision to the "Telecommunications Business Act" to establish regulations for compensation for communication failures and measures to prevent recurrence, suitable for the digital transformation and non-face-to-face era. The photo shows members of civic groups and small merchant organizations urging related compensation and recurrence prevention measures at a press conference held on the 2nd at the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy in Jongno-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Following the recent KT wired and wireless internet outage, calls have grown louder to legally specify standards for sanctions against telecommunications operators and compensation measures in the event of communication failures.

On the 3rd, Byun Jae-il, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, announced that he had introduced a bill to amend the 'Telecommunications Business Act' aimed at establishing regulations for compensation for communication failures and measures to prevent recurrence, suitable for the digital transformation and non-face-to-face era.

On the 25th of last month, KT caused a nationwide wired and wireless communication outage lasting about 85 minutes due to a network routing configuration error. Services relying on communication networks such as financial transactions, telecommuting, remote classes, and delivery applications were paralyzed, causing great inconvenience to the public. KT announced a compensation plan on the 1st, but it was criticized for being only about 7,000 won based on the 25,000 won monthly plan mainly used by small business owners.

The partial amendment bill to the Telecommunications Business Act, which Byun introduced as the main proposer, includes ▲ establishment of automatic fee refunds for eligible customers ▲ provision of the right to claim indirect damages such as business losses ▲ and stipulation of communication failures caused by clear gross negligence of telecommunications operators as prohibited acts.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The amendment includes a provision for automatic fee refunds to eligible customers in the following month without a separate application when a communication failure occurs. The current law requires telecommunications companies to notify standards and procedures related to compensation. Telecommunications operators tend to respond passively, providing fee reductions only if the terms and conditions criteria are met and compensation only upon the victim's application.

Secondly, it clearly defines procedures for indirect damage compensation for small business owners, self-employed individuals, and others. Under current law, the indirect damage compensation regulations for telecommunications operators allow high discretion for operators, making it difficult to provide compensation that matches the actual damage level. Therefore, it is explained that indirect damage compensation will be possible in the event of communication failures, and the compensation amount standards will be set by presidential decree. Operators must specify detailed compensation procedures.

It also establishes grounds for strong sanctions when communication failures occur due to clear gross negligence by operators. Communication service failures and interruptions caused by clear gross negligence of telecommunications operators are defined as prohibited acts, and operators violating these prohibitions will be banned from new recruitments. Additionally, if subscribers wish to terminate the service affected by the failure, measures will be put in place to reduce penalty fees.

On the 15th of last month, Assemblyman Byeon Jae-il attended the Semiconductor Technology Special Committee meeting / Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Byun Jae-il said, "During the lunch peak time, delivery orders could not be received, and actual card payment failures caused great inconvenience to businesses, but the compensation level was equivalent to the price of a bowl of gukbap (Korean soup)," adding, "KT's compensation amount is estimated at around 35 to 40 billion won including small business owners, which is about 8% of the operating profit for the second quarter of this year (475.8 billion won). It needs to be significantly expanded to include indirect damage compensation."

He continued, "If these three measures are firmly institutionalized, consumers will be empowered to choose telecommunications operators based on service quality, and it will promote competition among operators. We will identify and reform outdated legal systems that fail to reflect changes in the digital transformation and non-face-to-face era among services closely related to people's lives," he said.

Meanwhile, the bill was co-sponsored by members of the National Assembly including Park Hong-geun, Lee Yong-bin, Lee Won-wook, Lee Jung-moon, Lee Hak-young, Lim Oh-kyung, Lim Ho-seon, Jo Seung-rae, Han Jun-ho, Hong Sung-guk, and Hong Jeong-min, in addition to Byun Jae-il.

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