Joincheol: "Immediate Notification to Users in Case of Mobile Network Disruption"

Lead Proposal of the "Telecommunications Business Act Amendment"

Jo Incheol, Member of the National Assembly.

Jo Incheol, a member of the National Assembly from the Democratic Party of Korea (representing Gwangju Seogu-gap), announced on the 25th that he has proposed a revision to the Telecommunications Business Act. This amendment would require companies to immediately notify users in the event of a telecommunications outage and would increase penalties for violations.

In December last year, a major domestic mobile carrier experienced a 12-hour outage that disrupted access to certain overseas sites (such as ChatGPT and LoL). However, users were only informed of the issue after mobile services had already been restored.

The carrier's terms of service state that users must apply for a refund themselves. As a result, the earlier a telecommunications business operator notifies users of an outage, the greater the potential refund burden, leading to a structural problem where delayed notifications are repeated.

Current law requires users to be notified in the event of a mobile network outage, but since this is only stipulated by an enforcement decree, it lacks strong legal force and telecommunications companies repeatedly fail to comply.

In contrast, the United States and the EU have strict legal regulations that mandate immediate notification in the event of an outage, and violations can result in fines of up to tens of millions of dollars.

The proposed amendment would impose fines of up to 50 million KRW for failure to notify users of mobile network outages and would require mandatory notifications detailing the cause of the outage, estimated recovery time, customer service contact information, and compensation standards.

Jo emphasized, "Due to legal shortcomings, users are not protected even during prolonged internet outages. We must strengthen the legal obligation for telecommunications operators to provide immediate notification in the event of an outage to guarantee consumer rights."

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