Office worker A applied for a carrier change to KT through online channels after hearing the news of 'SK Telecom's waiver for cancellation fees' on the 9th. He wanted to sign up under the 'selective contract' that would give a 25% discount on the monthly fee, but received guidance from KT that it is not possible to sign up for the selective contract with the current device. This is because the contract he had with SK Telecom when purchasing an iPhone with a publicly announced subsidy last January was not settled.
Small business owner B applied to change his carrier from SK Telecom to LG Uplus on the 8th. B also received guidance that he could not sign up for the selective contract. He decided to continue using SK Telecom as he felt burdened by having to pay cash immediately and found the separate application process for refunds to be bothersome.
According to the telecom industry on the 11th, the number of cases withdrawing applications for carrier changes to KT and LG Uplus has increased since the announcement of 'SK Telecom's waiver for cancellation fees.' An industry official noted, 'Most of the cancellations come from customers who joined SK Telecom with a 24-month contract after receiving the publicly announced subsidy and want to continue using their current device.'
If a contract is terminated during the commitment period, a portion of the publicly announced subsidy received must be paid as a penalty. After SK Telecom announced it would not impose penalties due to a hacking incident, some subscribers who had received the publicly announced subsidy began switching to other carriers to receive the selective contract.
However, to switch to KT or LG Uplus under the selective contract, one must first pay the penalty. Although SK Telecom announced the waiver of penalties on the 4th and set the application period until the 14th, the actual refunds will only be processed for those who apply separately after the 15th.
Under current law, devices that have received a publicly announced subsidy can only join the selective contract after the end of the commitment period, including termination after penalty payment. The law regarding the improvement of the distribution structure of mobile communication devices stipulates that one cannot receive both the publicly announced subsidy and the selective contract simultaneously.
Therefore, when a customer applies for number transfer, SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus check the 'eligibility for selective contract' of the device by receiving information from the previous carrier. After the announcement of the waiver of penalties by SK Telecom, to change carriers, one must first pay the penalty and settle the existing contract to qualify for benefits such as publicly announced subsidies and selective contracts from the new carrier.
An industry official stated, 'After the announcement of SK Telecom's waiver for cancellation fees, most customers believe they can automatically change carriers without any additional procedures such as payment of costs until the 14th, but the reality is different, leading to some confusion.' He added, 'While refunds for penalties can be obtained if applied after the 15th, many customers feel burdened by the need to pay cash immediately.'
SK Telecom cited the need for time to prepare the relevant systems as the reason for the non-automatic application of the waiver for penalties. A SK Telecom official noted, 'The decision to waive penalties was made suddenly, and there was insufficient preparation time for related IT development and distribution network guidance.' He added, 'For subscribers who have already terminated their contracts, there is no account information necessary for penalty refunds, so a separate customer verification process is needed to obtain account numbers, leading to the method of 'penalty refunds.' He continued, 'Refunds are made within a week after application' and insisted that 'we are doing our utmost to ensure that customers can cancel their contracts or transfer their numbers without inconvenience.'
On the other hand, from the 5th to the 10th, 36,808 people are reported to have changed from SK Telecom to KT. LG Uplus secured 38,406 customers. However, during this period, the net loss of SK Telecom subscribers was limited to 28,566.