SK telcom to refund 27.43M subscribers

MANILA, Philippines – South Korea’s largest telecommunications company SK Telecom will compensate users affected by a six-hour downtime last Thursday, March 20. 

At least 5.6 million subscribers in Seoul and nearby provincial areas were affected by network failure last week with some users not being able to make phone calls, send and receive text messages, and access the Internet.

Speaking to reporters after a shareholders’ meeting on Friday, SK Telecom CEO Ha Sung-min apologized for the incident, “I apologize to shareholders and customers for yesterday’s incident. We will compensate for the damages with more money than stated in the customer clauses.”

The company will refund all of its 27.43 million subscribers the value of a day’s subscription (averaging 1,200 won per user) and is expected to spend at least 33 billion won ($33M). 

The affected 5.6 million subscribers will also be compensated 10 times the cost of their monthly plans, more than what is stipulated in SK Telecom’s customer clause. Subscriber contracts require the company to compensate users 6 times the cost of a basic monthly plan should they experience a blackout longer than 3 hours.

The network failure was caused by a breakdown of their Home Location Registration (HLR) system, which is needed to identify subscribers.  

SK Telecom accounts for about 50% of South Korea’s mobile phone subscribers, followed by KT Olleh (formerly Korea Telecom) 30% and LG’s U+ network, 20%. – Rappler.com