Three Korean carriers ran a 'situation room' to carve up the porting market — ₩96.3B fine

In July 2025 the Korea Fair Trade Commission fined the country's three mobile carriers — SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus — a combined ₩96.3 billion for colluding in the mobile number portability market. The three had coordinated for nearly seven years, from November 2015 to September 2022, to keep their market shares stable and hold down customer churn.

The coordination ran through a 'situation room' operated by the Korea Association for ICT Promotion, through which the carriers co-ordinated subscription incentives so that none of them would poach a dominant rival's share of users switching operators while keeping their numbers.

The final fine of ₩96.3 billion was split roughly by size: SK Telecom ₩38.8 billion, KT ₩29.9 billion and LG Uplus ₩27.6 billion. It was about 15% lower than the ₩114 billion the KFTC had originally proposed, after revenue from corporate contracts, promotional offers and users porting out to MVNOs was excluded.

The carriers argued their conduct aligned with what the Korea Communications Commission expected under the Mobile Device Distribution Improvement Act, which penalised excessive handset subsidies, and said they would consider administrative litigation against the fine.