Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
AI subscription competition escalates with budget plans and bundles
A user tries SK Telecom's A. (Adot) service in this undated promotional image / Courtesy of SK Telecom
By Lee Gyu-lee
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) services are entering a new phase of intense price competition as telecom companies roll out budget-friendly bundled AI services to attract mainstream users. Major global players are also introducing low-cost subscription plans as they accelerate monetization efforts.
SK Telecom is using its AI assistant service A. (Adot) as a hub where users can tap into major global AI models, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude, under a multi-agent strategy.
The company aims to convert A., which has surpassed 10 million cumulative users, into a paid service and is reviewing subscription and bundle options that package premium AI features for a monthly fee.
Traditionally, telecom companies have competed by bundling voice, data and entertainment services, but with the rapid use of generative AI services, carriers see AI as a new lever for differentiation and to lock in subscribers.
Especially with premium chatbots carrying steep monthly fees, bundled AI offerings can help ease users’ growing fatigue of mounting subscriptions by combining major services into a single, discounted package embedded in everyday mobile plans, lowering costs while attracting broader user bases.
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LG Uplus launched the Google AI Pro add-on last month, in partnership with Google, becoming the first Korean telecom company to package Google’s paid AI services. For 29,000 won ($20) a month, which is discounted to 19,800 won until June, users can access Google’s Gemini 3, NotebookLM and other AI tools with 2 terabytes of cloud storage. Some higher‑end mobile plans offer Google AI Pro at no extra charge.
The company also operates broader bundle‑style subscriptions, released last July, that let customers choose any two services from a list of 10 third‑party AI tools, including Liner and Canva, for a single discounted fee.
KT has also strengthened its AI lineup by adding DeepL, a leading global AI translation service, to its mobile subscription platform late last year. It offers the service at 9,900 won per month as an add-on, which is less than the service’s original price of 11,900 won.
The move toward accessible pricing mirrors global trends, as tech giants, seeking to convert free users into paying customers, aggressively offer lower-tier AI subscriptions to reach more users and build longer-term revenue streams.
OpenAI recently rolled out ChatGPT Go, a budget AI subscription plan priced at about $8 per month in the United States and 13,000 won in Korea. Positioned between the free version and the Plus plan that costs 29,000 won, ChatGPT Go offers substantially higher usage limits for messaging, file uploads and image generation than the free tier, helping lower the barrier to entry for everyday users.
Soon after OpenAI’s new pricing rollout, Google also launched its own mid-tier AI subscription, AI Plus, in about 35 countries, offering access to key Gemini models and tools such as Gemini 3 Pro, Nano Banana Pro, Flow, NotebookLM and Deep Research at 11,000 won per month, along with bundled cloud storage. This plan sits between the free and premium AI Pro tiers and can be shared across family members for broader value.
Google will also provide 200 AI credits to Google AI Plus subscribers, double the 100 credits per month offered to free users, as well as 200 gigabytes of cloud storage.