South Korea's Broadcast Media Communications Commission will expand the scope of its assessment of telecom operators' user protection work and overhaul the evaluation method. It will enable operators to identify the criteria in advance and conduct assessments focused on operators with a high likelihood of user harm.

The commission on the 13th announced an "improvement plan for operating the telecom operators' user protection work assessment system" containing those measures.

The user protection work assessment, conducted annually since 2013, is a system under the Telecommunications Business Act aimed at preventing harm to telecommunications service users and encouraging operators to promptly handle users' complaints and opinions. 2

Until now, the commission confirmed the assessment targets and items after the target period ended and then conducted document and on-site assessments. This led to criticism that it was difficult for operators to identify assessment criteria in advance and reflect them in user protection work.

The improvement plan widens the scope of targets and requires advance disclosure of assessment criteria. The commission plans to finalise the basic assessment plan each January and disclose the target scope and detailed assessment items.

In 2027, it will apply the existing target selection standards of at least 100,000 subscribers for facilities-based telecom operators and at least 5,000,000 average monthly net users for value-added telecom operators. It will adjust the standards flexibly in line with changes in the telecommunications service environment.

It will also change how assessment targets are selected. Previously, it evaluated all operators selected as targets, but it will now make a final selection of some operators from among those included in the target scope disclosed at the start of the year. Final targets will be decided based on a comprehensive consideration of user scale as well as the level of user complaints and the extent of infringements of user interests. The commission plans to approve the assessment execution plan around November each year and announce the final targets.

It will abolish the pilot assessment system that had applied to newly included operators for the first 2 years. Previously, it carried out pilot assessments to help operators understand assessment work and notified results only to the relevant operators. Going forward, with criteria disclosed in advance, it will conduct formal assessments without separate pilot assessments.

The commission will also refine assessment items by service area. While maintaining the existing assessment framework, it will review adding assessment items needed for new services.

The improvement plan will apply from the 2027 assessment. The 2026 assessment will follow the existing operating method. It also 마련했다 transitional measures, given that assessment procedures for 2 years will begin simultaneously in 2027.

Kim Jong-cheol (김종철), the commission's chairman, said the improvement plan was redesigned to address limitations to date. He said it would be successfully established and operated to strengthen the foundation for telecom operators' proactive user protection.