SK Telecom enjoys subscriber growth with KT's termination penalty waiver

KT’s fee waiver for early contract termination in the wake of its mobile payment fraud case, has triggered a rapid surge in subscriber outflows, with SK Telecom emerging as the biggest beneficiary. As the waiver exemption nears its end, the subscriber exodus has accelerated sharply, with daily churn surpassing 30,000 for the first time over the weekend. On Saturday alone, the telecom company lost about 33,300 subscribers. The majority of them, over 22,100, moved to SK Telecom, while about 8,000 joined LG Uplus and about 3,000 shifted to mobile virtual network operators. From Dec. 31, 2025, when the waiver took effect, until Saturday, a total of over 216,000 subscribers have switched from KT to rival carriers, with about three-quarters of those subscribers opting for SK Telecom during that period. KT rolled out a termination fee waiver late last month in response to a major data breach that resulted in unauthorized mobile payments among some of its users, allowing subscribers to terminate their services at no penalty until Tuesday. The program was retroactive to Sept. 1, 2025, for thosWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times