The government announced its telecom fees discount plan on Thursday, which included a 1,000 won cut in SK Telecom’s basic service fees and 50 free text messages every month.

The Korea Communications Commission, the state telecom regulator, said it agreed with SKT, the country’s top mobile carrier, to provide a 1,000 won discount for all customers, along with more text messages, both beginning in September.

The other two mobile carriers ― KT Corp. and LG Uplus ― are soon expected to announce their own discount plans following SKT’s decision, according to Hwang Chul-jeung, director-general of the telecom policy bureau at the KCC.

“We have about three months before implementing the new measures, which means there is time for negotiations with the two telecoms,” he said.

Currently, subscription costs and the basic service fees for the three telecoms are: 36,000 won and 12,000 won for SKT; 24,000 won and 12,000 won for KT; and 30,000 won and 11,900 won for LG Uplus.

Beginning in July, SKT expects to introduce a customized smartphone monthly payment plan that fits the customers’ use pattern of voice minutes, text messages and data, said SKT officials.

The plan released by the leading mobile carrier amounts to an overall 750 billion won discount per year, they said.

This comes after the state task force said it would push telecoms to release new monthly payment plans for smartphone owners in July. Two options include having the smartphone users compose their payment plans depending on the usage amounts of voice minutes, text messages and data, and having the smartphone owners freely use the three categories within the budget limit for the plan they subscribed to.

The government will also make improvements to the international mobile equipment identity number system this month so that people can buy gadgets directly from manufacturers and insert a universal subscriber identity module belonging to any telecom to activate the service.

Weekly discussions between related governmental branches ― the Korea Communications Commission, the Finance Ministry and the Fair Trade Commission ― were held March 3-April 28 to form the draft of the plan.

The taskforce-drafted plan, which was negotiated with the country’s three mobile carriers, earlier this month included offering 50 more free text messages every month and halving subscription costs for seniors and teenagers.

However, the plan was fiercely debated by ruling Grand National Party lawmakers, who claimed telecoms must lower basic service rates and scrap subscription costs for all customers.

But the telecoms argued back saying that the discount was almost impossible because of a reduction in revenue ― 600 billion won if they cut their basic service rate by 1,000 won a month ― for all customers.

They also said it would force them to curb investments in going forward with new projects and building and maintaining networks across the nation.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)