[안터지는 5G] “Three mobile carriers forced to join 5G mobile phones for’discontinued'”… Participation Solidarity, FTC Report

[오늘경제 = 최주혁 기자]

The Participation Solidarity reported to the Fair Trade Commission on the 11th that three domestic mobile communication companies (SK Telecom, KT, LG Uplus) were compelled to subscribe to the 5th generation mobile communication (5G) terminal.

The Participation Solidarity said on the day, “Three mobile carriers have commercialized 5G services based on their market dominant position with a total market share of 90%, and have released the latest high-end terminals exclusively for 5G and have forced them to join the plan.”

The three mobile telecommunications companies are key telecommunications carriers that occupy about 90% of the domestic telecommunications market, and have maintained the monopoly of three telecommunications companies over the past 20 years.

The group then pointed out this point and argued that “this behavior of the three mobile carriers corresponds to the act of controlling the sale of unfair products that abused their market dominant position, the act of hindering the interests of consumers, and the unfair joint act.”

Although it stipulates that the mobile communication service fee should be decided reasonably so that users can receive it in a fair and inexpensive manner, the three mobile communication service providers are “intentionally” infringing on consumers’ right to choose in order to maintain a policy that maximizes their profits. Description.

They said, “If you sign up on a self-sufficient basis from August of last year, it is not technically impossible to open LTE with the latest handset,” and pointed out that “the three mobile operators are forcing 5G, which has problems of communication instability and high cost because of profits.” .

5G is currently experiencing a growing controversy over’disruption’ due to a lack of base stations. In particular, it has been confirmed that 5G terminals are being sold even in areas where there are no 5G base stations, so the political circles are also paying close attention to this issue.

Earlier, Democratic Party Rep. Jeon Hye-sook emphasized that “if 5G service is not properly received, it should be changed to LTE without penalty” at last year’s national audit. “It is a problem to give citizens choice.”

Accordingly, the Participation Solidarity demanded ▲ systematic compensation for 5G user damage ▲ provision of sufficient data for mid- to low-priced 5G rates of 20,000 won to 50,000 KRW ▲ establishment of a transparent distribution structure from the three mobile carriers.

Meanwhile, 5G service surpassed 10 million subscribers in November last year, one year and seven months after commercialization in April 2018, but quality problems such as service coverage and discontinuity are still being pointed out. In fact, it is said to be the 5G era, but many of the consumers are known to have difficulty using the service properly even if they subscribe to the 5G plan.

According to a survey published last month by the Ministry of Science and ICT, only about 60% of multi-use facilities nationwide can use 5G.

In addition, as a result of measuring the government’s 5G coverage (communication area) to small and medium-sized cities, KT ranked last. KT also showed the worst number among the three telecom companies in measuring the LTE conversion rate, which is the core of 5G quality.

Because of this, consumers are currently raising complaints through various community bulletin boards, saying, “Isn’t it forced to pay only expensive 5G charges because of 5G that does not burst?”

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