Lee Hyo-sik is Finance Desk editor at The Korea Times. He manages finance-related stories on macroeconomics, banks, stocks, bonds, crypto etc. He is passionate about covering what's happening in Korea's financial industry and explaining it to both Korean and non-Korean readers. You can reach him at leehs@koreatimes.co.kr. Your insights and feedbacks are always appreciated.
KT’s plan to end 2G service disrupted
By Lee Hyo-sik
A local court put KT’s plan to end its second-generation (2G) wireless service on hold Wednesday, one day before the country’s second-largest wireless carrier was scheduled to terminate the service.
The Seoul Administrative Court accepted a motion filed by Jang Baek, a law firm in southern Seoul, to suspend the Korea Communications Commission’s (KCC) decision allowing KT to halt 2G mobile services today.
The law firm filed a class action suit against KCC on Nov. 30 on behalf of 2G users to nullify the regulator’s approval of KT’s plan to stop its 2G service. It also asked the court to suspend KCC’s approval until it issues a verdict on the matter.
``If the 2G service comes to an end, it can cause irrecoverable damage to 2G users. It is unlikely that putting KCC’s approval on hold would seriously harm the public welfare,’’ the court said.
The latest court ruling forces KT to continue providing 2G handset services until the court deliberates on the class-action lawsuit.
It is also expected to deal a blow to the company as it won’t be able to provide long-term evolution (LTE) services in the 1.8 gigahertz bandwidth as scheduled, lagging behind its two rivals ― SK Telecoms and LG U+. Currently, its 2G wireless services are offered on the band.
After rejecting KT’s two previous bids, KCC voted on Nov. 23 to approve the company plan to end its 2G wireless service on Dec. 8 enabling the company to begin LTE services.
Against this backdrop, about 900 KT’s 2G handset users filed a lawsuit against the communications regulator in a bid to invalidate its decision, claiming KT did not properly inform users of its plan to terminate the service.
They also argued that the company was engaged in dubious activities to artificially reduce the number of 2G service users in order to get the regulator’s approval.
The commission rejected KT’s previous requests in April and July, saying the company’s number of 2G handset users was too large to force an end to the service.
KT received a green light only when the number of 2G service users fell to below 160,000. Despite KT’s aggressive marketing campaigns to woo 2G mobile phone users to upgrade to third-generation (3G) handsets or switch mobile carriers, about 125,000 users still refuse to do so.