Another Mobile Phone Rate Cut Expected Shortly

The government is set to order mobile carriers to further cut phone rates in the second half of this year.

“Mobile phone charges will be adjusted after we review performances of telecom companies, investment possibilities and the current status of competition” said Han Chun-gu of the Information and Communications Industry. The director general of the Ministry’s Telecommunication Business Promotion Bureau revealed the plan on June 3 at a seminar on competition policies and fair competition in the network industry, hosted by the Korea Academic Society of Industrial Organization society in the Korean Press Club.

Mobile phone users will start to benefit from lowered rates sometime between October and December after the cost analysis on the rates is finalized in October.

Another decision made by the Ministry is to put a cap on marketing promotion costs. This move will prevent telcos from giving out huge marketing costs to agencies under telecom giants.

Meanwhile, the plan for adopting a pricing system where companies can choose rates on their own within a certain limit will likely be postponed due to changes in the telecom market.

Im-Sook Ha artemes@donga.com