Three mobile carriers. (Photo= Yonhap News)

 

[Alpha Biz= Reporter Paul Lee] The Fair Trade Commission has begun the sanctions process over allegations that mobile carriers colluded in sales incentives paid to mobile phone sales agencies.

According to industry sources on the 22nd, the FTC recently concluded its investigation into violations of the Fair Trade Act by three telecommunication companies, including SKT, KT, and LG Uplus, and sent a review report (like the prosecution's indictment).

They are suspected of colluding with sales incentives, transaction conditions and trading volume in the mobile phone number mobile market since 2015.

Sales incentives are a kind of subsidy that carriers pay to mobile phone retailers to increase their discount rates.

The FTC judged that the three telecommunication companies had a secret time by sharing internal information to maintain sales incentives at a similar level to each other.

If its number transfer performance is lower than its existing market share, the company will increase sales incentives to recover it. On the contrary, if its performance increases, it will reduce the payment of sales incentives and balance its performance.

The FTC has launched sanctions, believing that such collusion has hampered fair competition in the market.

As the collusion period is long and related sales are large, some observers say that fines of up to tens of billions of won could be imposed if the charges are recognized during the screening.

 

 

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