Three Korean carriers were fined $25 million for false advertising

DNHN - The Korean Fair Trade Commission stated that the fine for each company is different and hoped that this would serve as a lesson for domestic telecommunications companies.

Three domestic carriers were fined a total of 33.6 billion won ($25.06 million) by South Korea's antitrust agency for misleading advertisements about 5G speeds.

According to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), three carriers, SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus, falsely advertised that they had the fastest speeds compared to competitors. According to KFTC's statement, the three agencies advertise that users can utilize 20 Gbps speeds, which cannot be achieved in a real-world setting and can only be achieved in theory.

According to the advertisement, SK Telecom and KT claim that it only takes 0.8 seconds to download a 2GB movie over 5G, while LG Uplus claims that it only takes 1 second to transfer a 2.5GB file. In addition, companies assert without evidence that their 5G network speeds are superior to those of their competitors.

KFTC stated, "These three telecom companies advertised that consumers could use 5G networks at speeds that were not possible in the real world...they advertised it." Without evidence, their 5G network speeds are faster than those of their competitors. The regulator has submitted advertisements issued by these three mobile carriers to local courts in support of ongoing consumer civil lawsuits.

SK Telecom was fined 16,8 billion won, KT was fined 13,9 billion won, and LG Uplus was fined 2,8 billion won.

The Korean Fair Trade Commission stated that the fine for each company is different and hopes that domestic telecommunications companies will learn from this and refrain from employing ineffective advertising methods. sound health.

SK Telecom and KT Corp have declined to comment on the Korean Fair Trade Commission's findings, whereas LG Uplus has stated that it is considering paying the fine.

According to data from the Ministry of Science and Information Technology of South Korea, the country had 30.76 million 5G network users in June, representing approximately 38 percent of the country's total 80.23 million mobile subscribers.

Hang Minh (t/h)