When Mr. Lee, a 40-year-old office worker residing in Mokpo, South Korea, looked into KT’s monthly 5G mobile data plan for his German wife, he discovered that KT’s basic monthly data usage allowance for foreigners fell short compared to the ones available to Korean residents. Mr. Lee uses the “5G Slim 21GB” plan, which provides 21 gigabytes (GB) per month for 58,000 won. But the “5G Welcome 5″ plan for foreigners offers only 5GB per month for 59,000 won. While KT is running a promotion that adds an extra 20GB per month until October, this benefit is only available for six months.
“I compared the unit price per 1GB of data, and the foreigner’s plan was four times more expensive than the domestic plan,” Lee said. “It’s as if they’re discriminating against foreigners.”
KT launched three new 5G mobile data plans tailored specifically for foreigners residing in Korea last month, according to the telecommunications industry on May 2. These “5G Welcome Plans” are the first 5G data plans designed for over 1.9 million foreigners who have been living in Korea for more than 90 days.
Foreigners have primarily used prepaid telecommunications services in Korea. Telecom companies adopted this approach because it is difficult to collect payments from foreigners whose identities may not be fully verified, especially if they leave the country without paying their bills. The prepaid service costs 49,500 won and includes 100 minutes of calls, 100 text messages, and 15GB of data (+3Mbps).
With the number of foreigners staying in Korea for more than 90 days growing every year, there has been a rise in demand for postpaid mobile plans for these foreigners. Unlike the saturated telecommunications services market for locals, the 2 million long-term foreign residents present a new potential market segment. This is why KT has introduced a 5G plan exclusively for foreigners.
However, these foreigner-specific plans have been criticized for high prices. The unit price per 1GB is more than four times higher than plans offered to Koreans. For instance, the “5G Welcome 5″ plan, priced at 59,000 won per month, offers 5GB per month, setting the price per 1GB at 11,800 won. In contrast, the local “5G Slim 21GB” plan, priced at 58,000 won per month for Koreans, provides 5G data at just 2,760 won per GB.
The most affordable 5G plan for foreigners, the “5G Welcome 1″, costs 39,000 won per month for only 1GB of data. This equates to 39,000 won per GB, 4.2 times higher than the domestic plan “5G Slim 4GB”, which costs 9,250 won per GB.
The foreigner-exclusive plans also have limited benefits. Unlike similarly priced 5G plans for locals, which include unlimited voice calls and texts, the foreigner 5G plans are limited to 200 minutes of calls and 200 texts.
KT explains that these plans were designed considering the data usage habits of foreigners, who prioritize consistent data speeds over voice calls and texts.
“The 5G Welcome plan offers data speeds (QoS) of 1 to 5 Mbps after data cap exhaustion, which is up to five times faster than similarly priced 5G plans (for Koreans),” said a KT representative. “It also includes various benefits such as an international call add-on service of 5,500 won per month and coupons for overseas remittance fees worth 16,000 won.”
