Among the four major domestic internet service providers, SK Broadband was found to have the highest consumer complaint rate relative to its subscriber base.
According to the Korea Consumer Agency today (the 6th), the number of applications for consumer dispute resolution related to internet services last year was 447, an increase of 16.4% from the previous year (384 cases).
Among these, applications targeting the four major providers amounted to 67.6%, totaling 302 cases.
By provider, KT had the most with 109 cases, followed by SK Broadband with 76 cases, LG Uplus with 63 cases, and SK Telecom with 54 cases.
However, when calculated per 1 million subscribers, SK Broadband (with 3.5 million subscribers) recorded the highest with 21.7 cases. This was followed by SK Telecom (3.42 million) with 15.8 cases, LG Uplus (5.16 million) with 12.2 cases, and KT (9.83 million) with 11.1 cases.
As for the agreement rate, three companies—LG Uplus (76.2%), SK Telecom (74.1%), and KT (73.4%)—all exceeded 70%, whereas SK Broadband remained in the 60% range at 61.8%.
Among the four companies, SK Telecom is a provider that resells SK Broadband’s internet network.
When looking at the reasons for the consumer dispute resolution applications, excessive penalties for contract termination or cancellation were the most common with 174 cases (38.9%).
This was followed by contract non-fulfillment such as failure to provide or reclaim bonuses with 106 cases (23.7%), improper actions such as failure to process or enforced termination with 59 cases (13.2%), excessive fees with 48 cases (10.7%), and low quality with 29 cases (6.5%).
The number of applications for consumer dispute resolution related to internet services is on an increasing trend every year. This year, 544 cases have already surpassed last year’s number by last month.
According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, as of last year, there were 24,098,164 domestic high-speed internet lines.
Based on the results of this investigation, the Korea Consumer Agency held discussions with the four internet service providers to discuss ways to reduce major types of consumer damages.
The Korea Consumer Agency also advised consumers to keep a contract containing important details such as the contractual period, penalties, and bonuses after signing an internet service contract and to check whether automatic payments were properly canceled after termination.
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