[The Editors' Verdict] In the Era of 2-Million-Won AI Phones, It's Time to Break the Mold of Telecom Bill Cuts

A world where we carry cutting-edge AI assistants in our pockets

'Halving Communication Fees'

This is a familiar slogan that reappears every election season. Assemblywoman Jeon Hyun-hee of the Democratic Party of Korea, who has announced her intention to run for Mayor of Seoul, unveiled a plan to establish a "Seoul Model 4th Mobile Carrier" led by the city. She promised to provide Seoul citizens with ultra-low-cost mobile plans at less than half the standard price. In South Korea, where household communication fees are regarded as a critical living expense that must be reduced, there is hardly anyone who would oppose lower telecom bills.

However, telecom companies such as SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus, which have consistently faced pressure to cut communication fees every election season due to the longstanding perception that telecom bills are a major driver of inflation, likely see things differently. Among the telecom executives I have met, not a single one claimed that Korea's telecom fees are expensive. There is a rationale behind their frustration.

Given Korea’s telecom pricing structure, where device installment payments and service charges are combined into a single bill, rising smartphone prices directly translate into a sharp increase in consumers’ perceived "monthly telecom fee." Furthermore, to enjoy discounts, many customers opt for plans that bundle subscription fees for online video services (OTT) such as Netflix and YouTube, or music streaming services, into their telecom bills. Whenever there is a hike in content subscription fees—what is now called "streamflation"—these costs are fully reflected in telecom bills, further increasing the telecom burden felt by consumers.

Despite this, last year, household telecom expenses declined for the first time in four years since 2021. This was the result of telecom companies, which had suffered hacking incidents, making aggressive moves to regain consumer trust by lowering fees, combined with the diversification of mid-range 5G plans and the expansion of the budget phone market. While these changes are reflected in the official statistics—often cited by the government when pressuring for lower telecom fees—consumers themselves have not felt a reduction in their actual telecom expenses. This is why, come election season, telecom fees inevitably become an easy target for politicians.

On February 25 (local time), Roh Tae-moon, President of Samsung Electronics, announced the third-generation AI smartphone "Galaxy S26" series on the global stage, expressing his intent to make AI a basic infrastructure for everyone’s daily use, not just a privilege for a select few. The company likely worked to keep device prices competitive, but with the increase in both exchange rates and component costs, the highest-end Ultra 512GB model has, for the first time, crossed the 2 million won mark. In response to the growing demand for AI-powered environments, telecom companies now face the necessity of making even greater investments in AI data centers, robust network infrastructure, and security. This signals that the burden of household telecom fees is only likely to grow further.

We need to consider how much longer it is appropriate to insist that low prices are inherently right for telecom bills, which now also reflect the cost of using AI services. The more politicians cling to the narrative of "lowering telecom fees" during election season to win votes, the more it risks undermining telecom companies' motivation to invest in AI infrastructure. Rather than focusing solely on forcing down the numbers printed on our telecom bills, it is time to shift our attention toward encouraging and overseeing whether the fees we pay are helping to strengthen AI infrastructure and create an environment where we can fully experience innovative AI. We cannot constrain the cost of carrying a cutting-edge, 2 million won AI assistant in our pockets and enjoying vast global content with an outdated cost-of-living framework from the era of feature phones.

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