'Ihyeonryeong Bihyeonryeong' Global Communication Charges Survey

US Becomes Most Expensive Country Due to Unlimited Plans
Is South Korea the Most Expensive in OECD?... "No Benchmark"

There are criticisms that the results of country-by-country telecommunications fee comparison surveys published overseas, such as in Japan and the UK, are like "earrings when hung on the ear, nose rings when hung on the nose," meaning they can be interpreted in contradictory ways. It is said that a fragmented interpretation without considering the various types of plans in each country causes an optical illusion. Recently, evaluations that Korean telecommunications fees are among the most expensive in the world, ranking first or second, have been continuously emerging, leaving related government departments and telecom companies busy issuing explanations.

Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced the "Domestic and International Price Difference Survey on Telecommunications Services" last May. The ministry annually compares data plan fees by data usage tiers in six major cities: Tokyo (Japan), New York (USA), London (UK), Paris (France), D?sseldorf (Germany), and Seoul (Korea).

Is the Most Expensive Plan in the US?

When comparing based on the top service provider in each country, Verizon in the US has the most expensive plans in all LTE and 5G data tiers except for the 5G unlimited tier. This is because Verizon only offers unlimited plans, so even low data tiers like 2GB and 5GB were compared using unlimited plans. For example, in the LTE/5G 2GB tier, the UK charges 1,722 yen (about 15,829 KRW), while the US charges 6,324 yen (about 58,130 KRW). In the LTE 20GB tier, Korea was compared using SK Telecom's Direct LTE 48 plan (48,000 KRW), which offers 100GB monthly. The plans are structured with 1.8GB, 2.5GB, 5GB, and 100GB tiers. For the 20GB tier alone, Korea is the second most expensive after the US and is 1.9 times more expensive than Japan (2,972 yen, about 27,319 KRW). However, when comparing the 100GB tier, which is Korea's specialty, it ranks third in expense, a mid-level position, and the difference with Japan, ranked fourth, narrows to 652 yen (about 5,993 KRW).

There is also criticism that the survey excluded major telecommunications services such as voice calls and text message fees. It is said that the survey was interpreted in a way favorable to the home country. Unlike other countries that generally offer unlimited free calls and texts, Japan usually charges based on usage for calls and texts. If text message fees are excluded and only the unlimited call option costing 1,100 to 1,870 yen (about 10,111 to 17,188 KRW) is added, the monthly fee jumps significantly.

A telecommunications industry official said, "In many cases, there is no matching plan for the set comparison tiers in each country, and the basic included amounts (data, voice, text) vary greatly." There are also opinions within the telecom industry that it is necessary to actively express their stance against overseas fee comparisons that are like "earrings when hung on the ear, nose rings when hung on the nose."

Korea Has the Highest Fees Among OECD Countries... "2015 3G Plans"

This is not an isolated case. Earlier this year, the UK cable and mobile price comparison site cable.co.uk reported in its "Global Mobile Data Price Comparison" that Korea's average mobile data cost per 1GB was $12.55 (about 16,779 KRW), the highest among OECD countries. However, the domestic telecommunications industry claims that the data arbitrarily selected telecommunications plans from over 200 countries without consistent criteria.

A telecommunications industry official said, "Each country selected between a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 60 plans, but Korea only selected 9 plans for comparison." They added, "For example, the claim that Korea's highest price per GB is about 110,000 KRW was created using a 2015 3G band plan (300MB for 32,890 KRW)." They also said, "It was not an accurately calculated average price but rather the middle price from the list of plans in each country, claimed as the average price. In countries where various mid- to low-priced plans are released, an optical illusion occurs making the price per GB appear relatively high." Another telecommunications industry official said, "Objective and reasonable international fee comparisons are necessary to resolve unnecessary controversies."

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