“South Korean content providers are being unfairly treated by having to pay for accessing their networks, which amounts to a violation of Article 23 listed in the Fair Trade Act,” the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice said. (Image credit: Kobiz Media/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Apr. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) has claimed that South Korea’s three major telecommunications companies — KT Corp., LG Uplus Corp., and SK Broadband Inc. — are discriminating against South Korean firms by collecting minimal fees from Google, Facebook, Netflix, and other foreign content providers for accessing their networks.
The CCEJ held a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday, accusing the big three of unfair transactions and vowing to bring the case to the Fair Trade Commission.
“These network service providers have reportedly installed cache servers at their internet data centers to allow global content providers to use their networks free of charge,” the CCEJ said.
“In contrast, South Korean content providers are being unfairly treated by having to pay for accessing their networks, which amounts to a violation of Article 23 listed in the Fair Trade Act.”
According to CCEJ, Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp., South Korea’s two largest content providers, paid 73.4 billion won (US$63 million) and 30 billion won in 2016 for network access.
Google, however, has been exempt from paying network access fees to South Korean service providers, while Facebook had been paying 10 billion won to KT until the company also agreed to pay SK Broadband early this year to resolve unfairness issues, the CCEJ said.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
