By Yoon Ja-young
Telecommunications companies here have been preventing mobile Voice over Internet Protocol (mVoIP), or mobile Internet phone services, which eat into their profits and weigh on the network. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have taken issue with this practice, criticizing mobile carriers for blocking consumer benefits.
The Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) and Jinbo Network, the country’s leading NGOs, filed a complaint against SK Telecom and KT, the two biggest industry players, with the Fair Trade Commission and Korea Communications Commission.
They also submitted a petition to the National Human Rights Commission seeking restrictions on deep packet inspection (DPI), technology which enables monitoring the communication of users.
Mobile Internet phone services, such as “My People” operated by Daum and “Skype,” send voice through the data networks of mobile carriers. Smartphone users welcomed these services as they can make free phone calls. Instead of levying charges on consumers, mVoIP firms consider advertisements as their income source. SK Telecom and KT however, have banned such services in their customer contracts, except for those who subscribe to the premium data packages costing 54,000 won or more a month.
The NGOs say the mobile carriers are groundlessly restricting the use of mVoIP on 3G networks for profit. It added that the restriction violates the fair trade act and electric communication business act. They also said that DPI, which mobile carriers use to monitor the use of mVoIP, is violating people’s privacy. They explained that the technology enables the carriers to intercept conversations as well as monitor whether one is using mVoIP services.
“mVoIP services are a means of communication, linking users at two separate ends of the network. Data traffic is incurred, and the customers have already paid for the use of data. It is not fair that they make an issue of data traffic management,” a representative for the CCEJ said.
She added that such practices are hampering the development of diverse technologies and new services.
However, telecommunications companies are unlikely to accept the request as allowing free mobile Internet phone services would seriously reduce their profits. “mVoIP companies are free riding on our network. Few countries have fully allowed mVoIP. Most of the countries allow them for additional fees,” said an SK Telecom representative.
She said that a few countries which fully allowed mVoIP, such as the United States and the Netherlands, saw a raise in mobile rates. “It means a decrease in our profit from voice calls, which is our biggest profit model. In that case, a hike in mobile rates would be inevitable and it would be unfair for consumers who don’t use mVoIP.”
She added that it is impossible to intercept communications with DPI technology. “It only analyzes the type of packets that pass the network. There is no way to analyze the content included in the packet. It is unrelated with private information or privacy.”
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