KTOA criticizes Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs for excluding Korea's latest plans and applying criteria favorable to Japan

Seoul's rates actually rank third or fourth among the six cities when consistent standards are applied, industry says

Pedestrians walk past a mobile phone store in Seoul. [Yonhap]
Pedestrians walk past a mobile phone store in Seoul. [Yonhap]

South Korea's telecommunications industry has strongly rebuffed a report by Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications that ranked Seoul as having the highest mobile data rates among six major global cities, saying the findings were distorted by arbitrary statistical errors.

The industry group said the ministry excluded Korea's latest rate plans while applying criteria that favored Japan, skewing the results.

According to industry sources Monday, the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association criticized the ministry's survey of mobile rates across six cities — Seoul, Tokyo, New York, London, Paris and Düsseldorf — published Sunday.

The ministry had said Seoul's 4G rate for 20 gigabytes of monthly data was the highest among the six cities at 6,916 yen ($44), citing SK Telecom's plan at about 60,846 won. New York's Verizon came in at 6,684 yen, Düsseldorf's Telekom Deutschland at 4,037 yen and London's Telefonica UK at 3,259 yen.

For 5G plans offering 20 gigabytes per month, Seoul ranked second at 4,902 yen, behind New York at 6,684 yen. For unlimited data plans, Seoul at 7,237 yen was third, behind Düsseldorf at 11,450 yen and Tokyo at 9,332 yen; New York and London came in at 6,684 yen and 4,966 yen, respectively.

KTOA rebuffed the findings on two main grounds: the arbitrary selection and application of comparison criteria, and the fact that Seoul's rates fall in the middle of the pack when consistent standards are used.

A pedestrian walks past a mobile phone store in Seoul. [Lee Sang-sub]
A pedestrian walks past a mobile phone store in Seoul. [Lee Sang-sub]

KTOA noted that South Korea has allowed cross-enrollment between 4G and 5G plans since 2023, and that an integrated rate plan was introduced in July this year.

The group said the ministry should have used a domestic rate of 4,200 yen — equivalent to about 42,000 won — for the 4G 20-gigabyte comparison, but instead applied an older, more expensive plan priced at about 69,000 won, which pushed Seoul to the top of the rankings.

Specifically, the ministry calculated Seoul's 4G 20-gigabyte rate using SK Telecom's older LTE plan called "T Plan," arriving at 6,916 yen, or about 69,000 won. KTOA said the ministry should instead have used the "Direct 42" plan, which was available at 4,200 yen and provided 24 gigabytes of data.

KTOA also pointed to how Japan calculated its own rates. Unlike the other five cities in the comparison, Japan is the only market that charges separately for voice calls and text messages based on usage — yet the ministry excluded those additional charges when computing Japan's figures. This made Japan's rates appear roughly 2,000 yen cheaper than they actually are, KTOA said.

The group further noted that Japan's figures included low-cost and standalone specialty plans that are typically excluded from international rate comparisons.

KTOA said that when the distorted statistics are corrected and consistent criteria applied, South Korea's mobile rates rank in the middle of the six cities.

Under equal conditions, Japan's rates would rise by between 1,294 yen and 7,102 yen above the ministry's figures, while Seoul would rank third or fourth among the six cities.

"The level of international telecommunications rates should be assessed by comprehensively considering not just the rate figures themselves, but also network quality, market performance and the amount of data provided," KTOA said. "Even Japanese media have criticized the ministry's statistics — which include low-cost and standalone specialty plans — as a 'nonsensical comparison of apples and oranges.'"


ko@heraldcorp.com