The logos of South Korea’s major telecom operators — KT Corp., SK Telecom Co. and LG Uplus Corp. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent analysis has revealed that South Korean mobile carriers are charging more for LTE (4G) phone plans than for 5G plans, despite offering less data and slower speeds. This pricing strategy has raised concerns about fairness and potential overcharging of consumers.
Rep. Choi Su-jin of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee, disclosed these findings on September 9 after reviewing data from the Ministry of Science and ICT on major LTE and 5G plans offered by the country’s three main mobile carriers.
The analysis shows that for plans priced around 50,000 won per month, LTE plans are more than twice as expensive as 5G plans when comparing data allowances.
For instance, SK Telecom’s 50,000 won LTE plan provides 4GB of data, while its 49,000 won 5G plan offers 11GB per month. This translates to LTE being about 2.8 times more expensive per gigabyte.
Similar disparities were found with other carriers. LG U+ charges about 2.6 times more for its LTE plan (49,000 won for 3.5GB) compared to its 5G plan (47,000 won for 9GB). KT’s pricing shows LTE plans costing about twice as much as 5G plans for comparable data allowances.
This trend extends to other price tiers, including unlimited data plans and youth-targeted plans for those under 35.
For example, in youth plans, SK Telecom’s LTE option is about 2.6 times more expensive per gigabyte than its 5G counterpart, while KT’s LTE plan is about 2.5 times pricier.
Despite regulatory changes in October last year allowing LTE device users to choose 5G plans, as of June, LTE service subscribers still accounted for 28.4% of total subscribers across the three carriers, numbering 13.4 million users.
The 2023 telecommunications service quality evaluation revealed that the average LTE download speed for the three carriers was 178.93Mbps, only about one-fifth of the 5G transmission speed of 939.14Mbps.
Rep. Choi argues that these 13 million subscribers are falling victim to what she terms “rip-off” pricing, paying more for inferior service.
She criticizes the current administration’s focus on addressing high-priced 5G plans, stating, “The Yoon Suk Yeol government has focused on reforming high-priced 5G plans to mid-to-low price ranges, relatively neglecting LTE plan reforms.”
She is calling for a rational overhaul to ensure that LTE plan users, who number 13 million, can also benefit from pricing reforms.
In response, an industry representative defended the pricing structure, stating, “Currently, LTE customers can also use 5G plans, and customers can choose either LTE or 5G plans according to their preferences.”
The representative argued that from both a network evolution and customer perspective, it’s desirable to naturally guide customer choice towards 5G, which offers faster speeds and lower prices than LTE.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
