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[Apha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] Lee Dong-kwan, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, met with representatives of the three telecommunications companies and stressed the need to cut household communication costs. It also hinted at the possibility of revising the law on improving the distribution structure of terminal devices.
Chairman Lee held a meeting with Yoo Young-sang, CEO of SK Telecom, Kim Young-sup, CEO of KT, and Hwang Hyun-sik, CEO of LG Uplus, at the Gwacheon Government Complex on the 15th to discuss major issues in the broadcasting and telecommunications market and listen to industry opinions.
This is Chairman Lee's first meeting with an industry official since he took office. Chairman Lee explained, "Telecommunications services are a key infrastructure in our society that enables people's daily lives and social and economic systems, such as finance, commerce and messenger, as well as consumption of various contents."
The biggest issue was the reduction of communication fee. "We think that the entire nation should enjoy telecommunication benefits equally regardless of the gap between the old, the old, the old, the rich and the poor," Chairman Lee said. "People should be able to use telecommunication services at low rates." "It is true that telecommunication companies provide essential services to people's lives, but it is also true that high telecommunication costs are a burden for ordinary people," he said. "Some point out that the telecommunications industry is an Interest Cartel as it has been operating as an oligopoly for a long time."
Chairman Lee also mentioned the problem of the Mobile Phone Distribution Act. "There are also concerns that telecommunication companies only pay incentives to some retailers to violate users' rights and interests and hinder fair market order," he said. "There are opinions that Korea's telecommunication costs cannot be considered cheap in light of international standards, and there are many complaints that there is a lack of types of plans that consumers can choose from." In particular, he emphasized, "We hope that we will review the handset prices and the telecommunications service rate system and find ways to actually reduce the burden on the public."
Telecom companies have also called for the lead in blocking illegal spam and voice phishing. Chairman Lee said, "We need to come up with fundamental improvements, such as strengthening proactive measures, such as limiting the number of phone lines that illegal spam can open, blocking blacklist operators, and innovating spam filtering technology by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI)."
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