Minister seeks lower mobile fees

Korea’s top economic policymaker has seized upon mobile phone bills as his first step in tackling inflation. “Mobile phone services should be less expensive,” said Lee Hun-jai, finance minister and a deputy prime minister, “so I asked the communications minister to look into lowering their prices.” The government regulates the mobile service sector under the terms of the Fair Trade Act. During a regular economic press conference yesterday, a Ministry of Finance and Economy official noted, “Cheaper mobile phone services will go far in helping to stabilize commodity prices in the latter half of the year.” Mobile phone bills currently take up 5.7 percent of the household economy ― the fifth biggest factor in domestic spending. According to another official, the ministry asked the communications ministry to order SK Telecom to lower its bills by 10 percent. As SK is the dominant local carrier, the government has the authority to ask SK Telecom to reduce its prices. Once SK Telecom lowers fees, the next-ranked players, KT and LG Telecom, should follow suit, the official said. Another official remarked that the authorities should fulfill the promises to lower the mobile bills made by deputy ministers at a consumers’ price policy meeting held on March 10. Civic groups have complained that mobile fees are too high. by Chung Jae-hong