Photo = Yonhap News
With the Galaxy S21, Samsung Electronics’ strategy for the first half of the month, which is scheduled to be released on the 29th of this month, telecommunications companies have announced a’previous’ public announcement support fund. The competition to attract 5G (5G) mobile communication subscribers, which withered last year, is on fire from the beginning of this year.
Disclosure subsidy raised more than twice
The company that set fire to competition is LG U+. On the 15th, LG U+ was the first to pay a publicly disclosed subsidy of 268,000 to 500,000 won. It also provides 268,000 won to the 5G plan for teenagers and the elderly and seniors, which are 45,000 won per month. From 5G Premier Essentials, which are 85,000 won per month, they all give 500,000 won. In the industry, it is believed that LG U+ aggressively set subsidies to increase its 5G market share. At the time of the launch of the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Note 20 last year, the three telecom companies paid a public announcement subsidy of up to 200,000 won. It has more than doubled this year.
KT initially announced a public announcement subsidy of 100,000 to 240,000 won. However, when LG U+ released an unexpected amount, the increase was raised to a similar level in one day. If you use the 5G slim plan, which is 55,000 won per month, you will receive 262,000 won with the lowest subsidy. Super Plan Basic Choice (90,000 won per month) is 450,000 won, and if you choose the most expensive Super Plan Premium Choice (130,000 won per month), you get 500,000 won.
The public announcement subsidy issued by SK Telecom is 87,000~170,000 won, the lowest among the three telecom companies. However, in the industry, SK Telecom is highly likely to raise the amount to a similar level. An official from SK Telecom said, “We are examining it internally.”
A contract discount of 25% may be advantageous
When you sign up for a product through a telecommunications company, you can choose between a public announcement subsidy and an optional contract discount. If you choose the disclosure subsidy, the price of smartphone devices is reduced by a fixed amount.
For example, suppose you purchase the Galaxy S21, which is priced at 999,000 won, and subscribes to LG U+’s 5G Premier Essential Plan, which costs 85,000 won per month. If you add 500,000 won for the public announcement subsidies provided by this company and 75,000 won for additional subsidies up to 15%, which can be provided by telecommunications agency agencies and retailers, a total of 575,000 won will be reduced. This will lower the price of the Galaxy S21 to 42,4900 won. If a two-year optional contract discount is chosen instead of the publicly disclosed subsidy, a total of 510,000 won is discounted for 24 months by 25% of the monthly fee (21,250 won). In this case, the public announcement subsidy is more advantageous. On the other hand, if the monthly plan is 130,000 won, you should consider which benefits are advantageous because you can save a total of 780,000 won over two years with an optional contract discount. In general, the discount range of the optional contract discount is larger than the publicly disclosed subsidy.
In the industry, three telecommunications companies are expected to begin the competition to attract 5G subscribers this year by leveraging the Galaxy S21. As of the end of November of last year, the number of 5G subscribers in Korea was 10.93 million, which is expected to reach 12 million by the end of the year.
Reporter Seung-Woo Lee [email protected]
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