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SK Telecom, KT, LG Uplus offered illegal discounts on iPhone 6.
SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus will stand trial for violating Korea’s stringent mobile subsidy law.
This is according to a Yonhap report late last week, which said that the Seoul Central District Prosecutor has also indicted several current and former board members who were in charge of sales at the three telcos when the offences were committed.
In late 2014, SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus were found to have offered illegal discounts on the then new iPhone 6.
Under Korea’s Mobile Device Distribution Improvement (MDDI) Act – which came into force in October 2014 – operators are not allowed to exceed the upper limit set by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC).
When the iPhone 6 launched, the upper limit was 300,000 won (€230). However, according to Yonhap, prosecutors suspect that SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus offered subsidies of KRW460,000, KRW560,000, and KRW413,000 respectively on the device.
Each telco was fined at the time, but it now appears they will stand trial – the first time this has happened since the MDDI Act came into force.
The law permits fines of up to 3% of annual sales. Individual retailers that break the rules can also be fined.
