South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has announced fines for the country’s mobile network operators (MNOs) – SK Telecom (SKT), KT Corp and LG Uplus – for falsely exaggerating the speeds offered by their respective 5G networks. As per the regulator’s decision, it will reportedly fine SKT KRW16.8 billion (USD12.7 million), while KT and LG Uplus face levies of KRW13.9 billion and KRW2.8 billion, respectively.

Yonhap News Agency cites a statement published by the regulator as confirming: ‘The three mobile carriers have delivered false or exaggerated information on their services’ speeds by deceiving consumers that they can experience 20Gbps speed, which is only a target in theory for the 5G technology.’ According to the competition body, advertisements released by the MNOs had given the impression that users could actually receive the maximum theoretical speeds offered by 5G technology, while failing to verify that their offerings could actually deliver such speeds.

Commenting further, the FTC added: ‘Considering the oligopolistic structure of the mobile communication market, we have concluded that the three carriers’ misleading advertisements can give a significant impact on the fair trade rule of the market.’