Expansion of Mid-Tier 5G Plans in First Half of Year... Government Eases Communication Cost Burden

Launch of 40~100GB Mid-Tier Plan
Expansion of 5G Senior Plans

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] The three major telecom companies will introduce new 5G mid-tier plans ranging from 40 to 100GB in the first half of the year. They also plan to launch new 5G senior plans next month.

The government announced this decision on the 15th during the 13th Emergency Economic and Livelihood Meeting.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Last August, the three telecom companies launched 5G mid-tier plans in the 24 to 31GB range, but the polarization of plans remained, causing significant consumer dissatisfaction. The Ministry of Science and ICT will ensure that currently lacking plans in the 40 to 100GB range are launched within the first half of the year and will consider introducing various plans such as fixed-term plans. Consumers will be able to subscribe to plans that match their data usage to reduce their communication costs.

A 5G senior plan will be launched that is cheaper than general 5G plans but offers expanded benefits such as data and video calls. The government is also discussing ways to segment benefits by age group. SKT and KT plan to launch 5G senior plans next month. Currently, LG Uplus operates this plan.

The government will also promote competition in the telecom market by regularly disclosing telecom service quality evaluations, enhancing the competitiveness of MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) services, and discovering new operators.

MVNOs, offering plans about 30% cheaper than existing telecom companies, account for 16.7% of telecom market subscribers. The government will extend the validity of the MVNO wholesale supply obligation system and reduce wholesale prices for 5G plans to encourage the launch of affordable 5G MVNO plans. They will also discover new 5G 28GHz operators that provide ultra-fast, low-latency services in hotspots with low initial investment burdens. Customized support will be provided at every stage from frequency allocation to service operation.

To prevent vulnerable groups from missing out on benefits due to lack of awareness, the government will strengthen promotion of communication fee reduction programs targeted at these groups.

Next month, the three telecom companies will temporarily ease the burden of communication costs for the public by providing additional data.

SKT and KT will provide 30GB, while LG Uplus will provide data equal to the basic allowance of the subscribed plan. A total of 33.73 million people, accounting for 67.1% of all mobile phone subscribers (50.3 million), will benefit.

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