More than 2.1 million disabled, older and low-income people eligible for telecom bill discounts did not receive the benefit in the first half of this year. The amount of discounts they missed totals about 174.3 billion won.

Data on annual first-half telecom bill discounts for vulnerable groups, submitted by the Ministry of Science and ICT to Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Jung-a (황정아) of the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, showed 10,674,877 people were eligible for discounts in the first half of this year. Of those, 8,574,247 actually received discounts.

Among those eligible, 2,100,630 did not receive the benefit. That is about 20 percent of the total, or 1 in 5 people.

On a first-half basis, the number of non-recipients rose to 2.1 million this year from 1.8 million in 2022, 1.86 million in 2023, 2.01 million in 2024 and 2.04 million last year. Over the same period, the number of eligible people also increased to 10,674,877 from 9,423,529.

Total telecom bill discounts in the first half of this year came to 711.7 billion won. Based on the number of people who actually received discounts, the average discount per person was about 83,005 won for the first half and about 13,834 won per month. Applying that to those who did not receive discounts suggests missed benefits of about 174.3 billion won in the first half, Hwang's office said.

The current telecom bill discount system operates for vulnerable groups including disabled people and low-income households. To receive discounts, people must apply in person by visiting telecom carrier outlets or community service centres, or apply directly via the internet or telecom carrier customer service. Hwang pointed out that such an application method could act as a barrier for groups with low access to information, including older people and disabled people.

“The fact that more than 2 million vulnerable people who fail to receive telecom bill discounts occur every year means it is difficult to eliminate blind spots under the current method,” Hwang said. “For eligible people who consent to provide personal information, there is a need to improve the system so that telecom bill discounts can be automatically linked at the same time as eligibility is verified.”