Government Considers Reducing Base Fare... ICT R&D Budget Down 21%

Focus on Starter and Optimal Plans Instead of Mid-Tier Plans
"Technical Feasibility of 28GHz Exists"
Emphasis on Digital Bill of Rights... Follow-up Measures After Summit

The government plans to cut next year's research and development (R&D) budget by about 3.4 trillion won, with the R&D budget for the information and communication technology (ICT) sector expected to decrease by 21% compared to this year.

Park Yoon-kyu, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, announced this at a press briefing held on the 23rd at the Seoul office of the National Information Society Agency (NIA) in Jung-gu, Seoul.

Vice Minister Park said, "This is an effort to resolve inefficiencies caused by the rapid expansion of the R&D budget," adding, "Although the overall budget is decreasing, I understand that there are no significant changes to national strategic technologies or core technologies."

As a follow-up measure to the mid-range 5G plans of 30?100GB launched in the first half of the year and the 'Measures to Promote Competition in the Telecommunications Market' announced in July, the ministry is reviewing plans to lower the starting 5G rate plans and introduce optimal rate plans. Vice Minister Park said, "We are practically preparing to lower the starting rate plans and introduce optimal rate plans," adding, "The rate plans should be changed to reflect user opinions more significantly." Specifically, the current 5G rate plans start at 40,000 won, and the plan is to launch cheaper products. They are also negotiating with mobile carriers on optimal rate plans tailored to user usage patterns. It is known that they are considering a method to roll over unused data within the period. Regarding the possibility of additional mid-range 5G rate plans, he stated, "Assuming that the mid-range rate plans are densely structured, we plan to focus on the starting rate plans and optimal rate plans."

Regarding the 5G 28 GHz frequency band returned by the three mobile carriers, he said, "Looking at overseas cases and footage taken in Los Angeles, USA, the technical feasibility clearly exists, and there are definite movements by advanced countries to realize this," adding, "We policy-wise judge that know-how on the 28 GHz band will be helpful for evolving into 6G in the future. We hope that operators who can utilize the 28 GHz band will emerge and contribute to the development of the telecommunications network service market." When asked about the status of attracting a fourth mobile carrier, Vice Minister Park replied, "No clear new operators have appeared so far, but we will take sufficient time until the announcement deadline on November 20 to promote new operator entry," adding, "We have not yet considered additional supplementary measures or incentives, but if operators feel the need for improvements, we will listen with an open mind."

Regarding policies related to artificial intelligence (AI), he said, "Each industry requires different ethical principles and guidelines. Technical measures are also needed to address fake news, AI side effects, and intentional misuse," adding, "We will compile these and announce them by September." He also added, "There will be an opportunity in September to show the public that South Korea's super-large AI ecosystem is developing."

As a key task to be promoted going forward, he cited the Digital Bill of Rights. The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to announce the Digital Bill of Rights next month to coincide with the first anniversary of President Yoon Suk-yeol's New York Declaration. They are also proceeding with follow-up measures after the Korea-US-Japan summit. Vice Minister Park said, "We will strengthen AI governance cooperation, and elevate cooperation with the US on major issues such as Open RAN projects, international standards, and cybersecurity, and also cooperate with Japan."

He also mentioned the next CEO of KT. Vice Minister Park said, "Personally, I hope that KT, after a long process, has selected a CEO candidate and that the new CEO can be inaugurated successfully at the shareholders' meeting," adding, "I hope they quickly and boldly resolve the issues revealed during this process and restore KT's core competitiveness in telecommunications."

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