South Korean consumers generally report more satisfaction with budget mobile carriers than with the nation’s three major providers, mainly thanks to their cheaper service plans, a recent survey showed Friday.

According to a biannual report by local market researcher Consumer Insight, the average consumer satisfaction for the low-cost providers was 693 out of 1,000, compared to 675 for the big three carriers. The low-cost providers were led by Liv Mobile with a score of 719, followed by FreeTelecom at 711.

The survey of mobile phone users aged 14 and up polled 27,683 people using the three major carriers SK Telecom, KT and LG U+ and 5,550 people using the mobile virtual network operators. The MVNOs, commonly referred to as budget carriers, offer lower service fees by reducing ancillary services and customer support, while using the wireless network infrastructure of the bigger carriers.

Among the three major players, SK Telecom scored the highest at 697, followed by LG U+ at 678 and KT at 637. LG was the only one of the three whose score increased compared to the first half of this year -- by six points -- while the scores for the other two decreased, SKT by nine points and KT by 10.

Since the second half of 2020, budget carriers' average consumer satisfaction has outscored that of SKT, LG and KT in every survey by the same researchers.

"The satisfaction rate for each carrier was still affected greatly by the fees they charge. Almost every company that scored lower on service fees also saw a drop in overall satisfaction, while carriers that scored higher on service fees saw their overall scores increase," Consumer Insight said in the report.

The survey asked consumers to provide scores in multiple categories: satisfaction with service fees, promotions and events, advertisements, public image, types of phones supported, mobile data service, call quality, ancillary services, benefits for long-time users, and customer service.