Government: "We will lower the starting range of 5G charges within the year... Roaming charges will also be reduced"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The government plans to lower the starting tier of 5G communication fees and reduce roaming charges within this year.

On the 20th, Park Yoon-kyu, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated at an ICT issues media day held in Jung-gu, Seoul, "Lowering the currently high starting 5G fee level is a task to be addressed going forward," adding, "We will proceed while observing the effects of the ongoing fee reduction policies."

Previously, the government led efforts to subdivide 5G fee tiers and launch customized plans targeting youth and seniors through consultations with domestic telecom companies. However, users' perceived impact on reducing household communication expenses has not been significant.

Vice Minister Park emphasized, "It is difficult to lower the starting fee level immediately by the end of this month, but we will strive to achieve this within the year."

He also mentioned that he requested consultations with the governments of Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Singapore regarding roaming fee reductions. He explained, "Although roaming fees are determined through negotiations between telecom operators, I proposed that if governments make efforts, they could provide affordable rates to their citizens, and this proposal was well received by the respective deputy ministers."

Vice Minister Park stated that efforts to prevent illegal distribution of domestic online video service (OTT) content will continue. He said, "NunuTV 2.0 was launched, but when we announced plans to strengthen crackdowns, the business shut down," adding, "We intend to maintain the current response system going forward. There are many illegal content sites, so I am not sure if we can handle all of them, but we will continue to block major ones like NunuTV."

Regarding the recent announcement by Mirae Mobile forming a consortium to enter as the fourth mobile carrier, he said, "We will announce measures to promote competition in the mobile telecommunications market by the end of this month or early July, and if applications from new operators are received thereafter, we will carefully review whether they are qualified and competitive operators."

On the government's policy direction concerning network usage fees, he stated, "Since SK Broadband and Netflix are currently in litigation, it is difficult to obtain objective and neutral expert opinions," adding, "A forum involving both parties is being operated, and we will refer to the outcomes derived there to make decisions."

Regarding the amendment to the 'Act on the Improvement of Distribution Structure of Mobile Communication Devices (DanTong Act),' submitted by the Korea Communications Commission to raise the public subsidy limit from 15% to 30%, Vice Minister Park said, "There is no disagreement between ministries." He elaborated, "There are various opinions within the task force (TF). Currently, the increase in additional subsidies has been agreed upon, and the rest will depend on the TF's discussion results."

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