Changing Phones, Replacing Screens... Households Struggling with Rising Telecom Costs

Communication Prices See Highest Increase in 33 Years
Repair Costs and Internet Fees Also Contribute to Inflation Rise

Communication prices, now considered an essential good for the public, have risen at the fastest rate in 33 years through September of this year.

According to the National Statistical Portal of Statistics Korea on the 23rd, the cumulative communication prices (classified by expenditure purpose) for the third quarter of this year (January to September) increased by 1.0% compared to the same period last year. This is the highest rate of increase in 33 years since 1990 (7.4%) for the same period.

After four consecutive years of decline from 2018, communication prices from January to September rose by 0.7% last year, followed by an even larger increase this year.

Communication prices consist of six items: ▲mobile phone charges ▲device prices ▲internet fees ▲mobile phone repair costs ▲landline telephone charges ▲postal services.

Although there are fluctuations by detailed item, overall communication prices have maintained very low or negative growth rates until now.

Since mobile phone charges were included as a consumer price item in 1995, annual communication prices have recorded negative growth in all years except three (2016, 2017, and 2022). Even in years when prices rose, the increase in communication prices did not exceed 1.0%.

Recently, mobile phone charges and device prices have contributed to the rise in communication prices. The price weights of mobile phone charges and mobile devices are 31.2 and 11 respectively, ranking first and second among the six items that make up communication prices.

In particular, mobile devices rose 3.5% from January to September due to factors such as price increases for new product launches. This is the largest increase since related statistics began to be compiled in 1995.

Due to the impact of rising LCD prices, repair costs for devices also surged by 5.1%.

During the same period, mobile phone communication charges also rose by 0.2%, continuing the upward trend following last year's 0.4% increase. This marks the first time since related statistics began in 1995 that prices have risen for two consecutive years.

An official from Statistics Korea explained, "Communication prices have risen as mobile phone charges and device prices, which have large weights among the six detailed components, increased."

Since President Yoon Suk-yeol instructed to reduce the public's burden of communication fees last February, the government has been striving to manage communication prices.

President Yoon emphasized, "The communication and financial sectors have a strong public goods nature and are government-licensed businesses maintaining an oligopoly. Since they greatly affect the difficult household budgets of ordinary citizens, it is necessary for the government to make institutional improvements and for the industry to voluntarily participate in sharing the burden to stabilize prices."

Following President Yoon's directive, mobile carriers have launched mid-tier plans for youth and the elderly and temporarily provided free data, but communication prices have not been controlled.

Meanwhile, internet usage fees also rose by 0.3%, pushing up communication prices. This is also the largest increase since related statistics began to be compiled in 2000.

The remaining communication price items, such as postal service prices and landline telephone charges, remained unchanged (0%) at the same level as the previous year.

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