That 5G networks are close to launching in South Korea is a development of some note. More important, though, are the pricing plans, about which there seems to be some disagreement. Several press reports say KT is offering unlimited usage. The Yonhap News Service report announcing the plans plans does not indicate that usage is unlimited.
One way of squaring these conflicting reports is to assume that unlimited usage might well be the case, but at capped rates after a threshold. But other reports say there are no speed caps. And reports of what KT executives have said suggest the plans really are unlimited.
As I interpret this chart, KT plans actually are unlimited, the posted KT limits referring to tethering limits, which are not unlimited.
Assuming the plans are unlimited, and other other major mobile firms stick to their buckets, an interesting potential marketing opportunity is created for KT. Much depends on how usage changes in a 5G context. If usage goes through the roof, increasing by an order of magnitude, then KT might gain subscribers worried about overage charges or throttling.
But the biggest plans sold by SKT and LG Plus offer data allowances comparable to those offered by many fixed network internet service providers, so as a practical matter there might not be a difference between “a big usage bucket” and unlimited. We will have to see.
According to Yonhap News Agency, here are KT price plans:
5G Slim, 8 GB of data for 55,000 won ($49)
Super Plan Basic, 5 GB of data for 80,000 won ($70)
Special Plan, 50 GB of data for 100,000 won ($88)
Premium Plan, 100 GB of data, for 130,000 won ($115)
The confusion is that most of the other reports say the basic, special and premium plans offer unlimited usage.
With the caveat that the mid-level and high-usage plans for SK Telecom and LG Plus offer buckets so large the difference between a bucket of usage and unlimited usage might be irrelevant, the test will come as customer usage actually occurs, and customers make choices.
As has happened in the past, some consumers will simply prefer the security of knowing they will not incur overages, giving KT an advantage. On the other hand, some consumers might realize the new 5G usage allowances for mid-level and premium plans are so big they need not worry about unlimited usage.
SK Telecom pricing plans:
8GB of data for 55,000 won ($49)
150GB of data for 75,000 won ($66)
200GB of data for 95,000 won ($84)
300GB of data for 125,000 won ($110)
LG Plus plans:
9GB of data for 55,000 won ($49)
150GB of data for 75,000 won ($66)
250GB of data for 95,000 won ($84)
Many users have likely encountered such decisions before. Given a sufficiently-large usage allowance, unlimited really does not matter. But the pattern of usage might matter, convincing some users they are better off with an unlimited usage plan.
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