Budget for public WiFi is slashed 69%

A public Wifi notice in Seoul [NEWS1]

The government cut next year's public WiFi budget by 69 percent, canceling upgrades of old facilities and installation of new ones.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance signed off on a 12.8-billion-won ($8.9 million) budget for public WiFi businesses next year.

That’s 56 percent less than the 29.2 billion won requested by the Ministry of Science and ICT, according to data from the ministry released by Rep. Kim Young-joo of the Democratic Party on Sunday.

This year’s budget was 40.8 billion won.

Due to the cut, the government has to cancel the upgrading of 8,000 facilities and reduce the number of new installations planned for 2023 from 5,000 to 4,400, Kim said.

Public Wifi helped telephone users cut their telecommunications costs by 133.8 billion won in 2021 and 87.1 billion won during the first half of this year, according to data from the science ministry.

“With more people using public Wifi, people are saving more than the amount that has been put into the public Wifi business,” Rep. Kim said in a press release.

“During times when inflation is a problem for the public, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration should not be cutting a business meant to help people save money, but should be expanding it for the good of the people.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]