Kim Hyeong-jin Reappointed as KMVNO Association President... "Efforts to Abolish Wholesale Provision Sunset Clause"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] The Korea Discount Telecom Operators Association announced on the 7th that it held its 2023 regular general meeting at the Riviera Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

The regular general meeting was held with about 20 attendees, including Kim Hyung-jin, president of the Korea Discount Telecom Operators Association, representatives of all member companies, and executives and staff. They resolved matters such as last year's performance and settlement report, approval of the 2023 business plan and budget, and election of the next executives.

2023 Regular General Meeting
[Photo by Korea Discount Telecom Operators Association]

This year, the association plans to carry out legislative and institutional improvement projects, including amendments to the Telecommunications Business Act related to discount phones and revisions to the wholesale price notification. In particular, it intends to work to abolish the sunset period for wholesale service providers, which ended on September 22 last year. Additionally, Kim Hyung-jin decided to be re-elected as president due to the expiration of the current term and other reasons.

President Kim Hyung-jin said, “At the end of 2022, we entered the era of 12 million discount phone users, but the number of mobile phone subscribers excluding Internet of Things (IoT) lines remains at around 7 million, still facing a challenging market environment. With the transition to the With-Corona era and factors such as an increase in incoming foreigners, the number of prepaid subscribers is expected to gradually increase. Despite the difficult economic situation, due to significantly lower rates with the same quality as major carriers and the accumulated promotion of discount phones over the past decade, the influx of mobile phone subscribers is expected to accelerate.” He also stated, “We plan to strive for fundamental institutional improvements to protect user rights and firmly establish discount phones as a reasonable alternative for telecommunication services, and we must actively promote the amendment of Article 38 of the Telecommunications Business Act.”

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