Marketing Expenses

Korea’s wired and wireless telecommunications service providers have spent around 44.6 trillion won (US$41.6 billion) for marketing expenses since 2008. 

Independent lawmaker Kang Dong-won said on October 6, “The incredible amount of marketing money spent by telecommunications companies has been passed on to consumers, who end up paying the marketing costs,” quoting the data submitted by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning,

For the last five and a half years, SK Telecom spent the most at 18.1 trillion won (US$16.9 billion), followed by KT (14.8 trillion won, US$13.8 billion), LG U+ (9.6 trillion won, US$9.0 billion), and SK Broadband (2.2 trillion won, US$2.1 billion). Expenditures for advertising were the largest at 3.7 trillion won (US$3.5 billion).

Lawmaker Kang went on to say, “Telecommunications companies are seducing consumers to replace their mobile phones too frequently with various deceptive offers and incentives, leading to excessive consumption and resource waste,” adding, “In the upcoming National Assembly’s inspection session, I will ask strongly for the government to come up with measures to cut the rates and prices of mobile phones.”

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