2.1 Million Vulnerable Individuals Miss Out on Telecommunications Fee Reductions This Year... Upward Trend Over the Past 5 Years

It has been revealed that among vulnerable groups eligible for telecommunications fee reductions, such as persons with disabilities, the elderly, and low-income individuals, 2.1 million people are not receiving these benefits.

According to the "Year-on-Year Status of Telecommunications Fee Reductions for Vulnerable Groups in the First Half" submitted by the Ministry of Science and ICT to Assemblywoman Hwang Jeonga of the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee on September 21, the number of people eligible for telecommunications fee reductions in the first half of this year was 10,674,877.

Among them, approximately 2,100,630 people, or about 20% of all those eligible, did not receive the benefit.

The number of people missing out on the reduction has been steadily increasing over the past five years: 1.8 million in 2022, 1.86 million in 2023, 2.01 million in 2024, 2.04 million in 2025, and 2.1 million in 2026.

The total amount reduced in telecommunications fees in the first half of this year was 711.706 billion won. Based on the number of actual beneficiaries, the average amount reduced per person was approximately 83,005 won, with a monthly average of 13,834 won. Meanwhile, the estimated amount in reductions not received by the non-beneficiaries during the same period stands at around 174.3 billion won.

According to the current Telecommunications Business Act, a system is in place to reduce fees for vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities and low-income individuals to promote social welfare. However, to benefit, they must visit a telecommunications store or a local community center, or apply directly through the customer service center of their telecom provider. For those with relatively low access to such information channels, this continues to be a barrier to receiving the benefit.

Assemblywoman Hwang pointed out, "The fact that over 2 million vulnerable people each year, despite being eligible, do not receive telecommunications fee reductions shows that it is difficult to eliminate blind spots through the current application process alone. It is clearly limiting to require individuals facing difficulties with digital and information access to apply directly."

She added, "It is necessary to improve the system so that, for those who have consented to the provision of personal information, eligibility verification and telecommunications fee reductions can be automatically linked."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.