South Korea will begin full implementation on June 10 of an emergency rescue communications priority transmission service that gives precedence to calls between firefighters at disaster sites and ordinary users when demand for mobile service surges. The science ministry said it confirmed the service meets special-service requirements under net neutrality guidelines. The three mobile carriers applied dedicated USIMs to firefighting devices. The ministry said it is the first case since 2011 deemed to meet special-service criteria.

A proposal has been raised for South Korea to move its telecom spectrum allocation system beyond price-only auctions by incorporating assessments of network quality and coverage. The aim is to overcome an auction structure that can raise spectrum acquisition costs and to encourage voluntary network investment by carriers. The Korea Information Society Development Institute proposed a scoring auction that evaluates both bids and buildout plans, while noting challenges such as designing objective, predictable scoring rules.