Gov't orders SK Telecom to cut non-mobile cancellation fees after data breach

People wait in line at an outlet of SK Telecom in Seoul, May 20. Yonhap

Korea's telecom watchdog on Thursday ordered SK Telecom to partially waive cancellation fees for non-mobile services following a major data breach that affected its 25 million mobile service users.

The move came after the country's top carrier decided to limit the waiver of cancellation fees to mobile service customers.

In April, the company belatedly reported its universal subscriber identity module (USIM) data was potentially leaked during an unidentified cyberattack on its servers.

The dispute resolution committee of the Korea Communications Commission said customers' cancellations of their contracts, including non-mobile services, with SK Telecom are an "inevitable measure" sparked by the company's negligence.

"Fixed-line services, including internet and TV, are usually sold as a combination," the commission noted in a release, acknowledging that cancellation fees for such services are considered damage caused by the data breach.

The committee decided SK Telecom should bear 50 percent of the cancellation fees for such bundled services.

The commission, meanwhile, also ordered SK Telecom to lift its mid-July deadline for compensation applications, directing the mobile carrier to waive cancellation fees for all submissions filed by mobile service users this year.

In a separate ruling, the watchdog ordered No. 2 mobile carrier, KT, to give petitioners the promised gift vouchers after it unilaterally canceled Galaxy S25 preorders in January due to its omission of a notice that the offer was good for only the first 1,000 customers.