5G Class Action Lawsuit Against the Three Major Telecom Companies, First Hearing Today

First Hearing Scheduled on the 19th
Claim for 1.5 Million Won Compensation per Person

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] The first hearing of the collective lawsuit for 5G damages filed by 5G service users against the three major mobile carriers will take place on the 19th. This is significant as it is the first trial targeting all three major domestic carriers rather than a specific one.

The 20th Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court will hold the first hearing of the collective lawsuit filed by domestic 5G service users against the three mobile carriers at 11:20 a.m. on the same day. The first and second lawsuits, filed by the plaintiffs on June 30, have been consolidated and will proceed together after about five months.

The 638 plaintiffs gathered through the joint litigation platform 'Hwanan Saramdeul' (Angry People) filed the lawsuit claiming that the carriers did not provide services commensurate with the high-priced 5G fees, causing financial and mental damages. They are claiming a minimum of 1.5 million KRW in damages per person.

The defendants SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus have each appointed top domestic law firms such as Law Firm Class, Law Firm Taepyungyang, and Law Firm Gwangjang as their legal representatives.

The plaintiffs are expected to focus on proving that the three carriers advertised and notified that "5G service is 20 times faster than LTE," but this promise was not fulfilled. They also plan to demonstrate that efforts to build wireless infrastructure base stations commensurate with this promise were not made in parallel.

During this year's National Assembly audit, members of the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee repeatedly pointed out related issues. According to the office of Cho Seung-rae, the ruling party's secretary of the committee from the Democratic Party, as of August, the total number of 5G base stations of the three carriers was 175,577, about 35,000 more than the 140,574 at the end of last year. However, the carriers are obligated to build 45,000 base stations by the end of this year. The number of 28 GHz 5G base stations is even lower. According to independent lawmaker Yang Jeong-sook, as of the end of August, the number of 28 GHz 5G base station equipment installed by the three carriers was only 161 units.

The Ministry of Science and ICT, the competent authority, is also not free from criticism. Despite slow progress in installing base station equipment for three consecutive years, the ministry is criticized for effectively neglecting the issue without conducting concrete on-site inspections.

Kim Jin-wook, a lawyer from Law Firm Juwon representing the plaintiffs, pointed out, "Physically, more than 4.3 million base stations are needed for 5G to smoothly provide the 20 times faster service promised by the three carriers to users." He added, "However, as of today, the number of 5G base stations is just over 200,000."

He further explained, "Consumers have suffered financial damages ranging from the full amount of 5G fees to the difference in fees between LTE and 5G," and "The compensation amount was calculated by combining frequent disconnection issues and mental damages."

Meanwhile, as the number of domestic 5G service users exceeds 15 million and quality controversies continue, related legal disputes are expected to increase this year. Earlier, 5G service users and their legal representatives from Law Firm Serim filed a collective lawsuit against SK Telecom in April and have completed up to the third hearing. Law Firm Juwon also plans to recruit additional third and fourth plaintiffs.

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