Eyes on the Timing of Business Resumption…Immediate Resumption of eSIM New Business,
On June 7, a notice about halting new enrollments was posted at an SK Telecom agency in Seoul. This follows SK Telecom meeting the government’s administrative guidance target of preventing “USIM replacement confusion.” Now, attention is focused on whether the government will allow SK Telecom to resume its new business operations. For now, SK Telecom plans to resume new business using eSIM.
As of June 16, SK Telecom announced that 50,000 subscribers had completed USIM replacement just the previous day, bringing the total number to 8.07 million. Consequently, the company has secured more USIM inventory than the remaining free replacement reservations require. As of June 16, 1.82 million reservations were pending, but SK Telecom had secured 1.9 million USIMs. Given this trend, achieving the goal to complete the replacement work by June 20 seems feasible. Since April 28, SK Telecom has been conducting free USIM replacement following a hacking incident. They plan to secure an additional 1.6 million USIMs by the third week of June to also cover customers wishing to replace their USIM without a reservation.
With the stabilization of USIM supply, the government’s permission for SK Telecom to resume new business is being closely watched. The government had previously ordered a halt to new enrollments until the USIM supply stabilized. Currently, SK Telecom has resumed new business operations using eSIM from today.
An SK Telecom representative stated, “From June 16, new enrollments using eSIMs are possible at over 2,600 T World stores nationwide,” and emphasized their commitment to prioritize USIM replacement to restore customer trust.
SK Telecom is planning to gradually introduce a system allowing customers to replace their USIM without reservations by visiting the store directly. During early May holidays, they tripled airport roaming booths and staff, including headquarters employees, to assist departing international travelers with USIM replacement. They have also been providing on-site services for soldiers working in remote and frontline areas since May 19 to prevent any customers from being left out.
Meanwhile, as the USIM replacement work wraps up, SK Telecom is also working on compensating the distribution network. They announced plans to grant OK Cashback (OCB) points worth 1,000 KRW per task for USIM replacement and reset handled by T World store employees. The settlement for April and May operations will be finalized in June. The final compensation plan is expected to be arranged once the recruitment of new subscribers is resumed. For now, they have decided not to reclaim sales commissions (sales incentives) from distribution channels due to the short-term cancellations by subscribers.