South Korea’s telecom operator KT is facing a backlash from consumers after the firm unveiled its new service plans offering almost unlimited voice call and messaging services.
On Thursday, KT said it would introduce new service plans providing unlimited voice and text messaging services for around 20,000 won ($18). Along with the launch, however, the firm faces a backlash from users after it unveiled limitations on the services on its website on the same day.
The limitations are users are not able to exceed 600 minutes a day for three times a month; Voice calls are not allowed to exceed 6,000 minutes a month; Call receivers should not exceed 1,000 lines a month; Incoming calls should not be less than 100 minutes a month. Otherwise, the firm will consider the users as commercially taking advantage of the service and charge them.
Many young users make a complaint against the limitations especially for the fourth condition. As many people in their 20s and 30s use SNS such as Kakao Talk, Twitter or Facebook for communication rather than voice calls, they may not make the 100 minutes of incoming calls.
For the complaints, KT’s official said, “We made this measure as the unlimited system may be misused for nuisance calls and junk mail.”
By Lee Kyung-ho
