The Broadcast Media Communications Commission on Thursday announced measures to improve mobile service cancellation procedures, including allowing cancellations through agent chat and adding a mobile app function for cancellation requests.

The measures were prepared after a proposal highlighting inconvenience in cancelling mobile service was selected as the top task at the third "Ridiculous Regulation" contest hosted by the Office for Government Policy Coordination. They were drawn up following discussions by a task force on improving mobile service cancellation procedures formed by the commission. The task force included relevant government agencies, civil society groups, the three mobile carriers and the Korea MVNO Telecom Association.

Key changes include agent-chat cancellation processing, allowing cancellation before paying overdue charges, adding a mobile app cancellation request function, improving access to cancellation menus on websites, standardising guidance on cancellation procedures, creating a standard for post-cancellation billing statement details and providing text versions of recorded cancellation consultations.

KT will introduce chat-based cancellation through its website and mobile app, and LG Uplus will introduce it through its website. Previously, neither the three mobile carriers nor budget carriers offered chat-based cancellation.

Cancellation before paying overdue bills will be expanded to include SKT budget carriers. All carriers will notify users of unpaid and settlement charges before cancellation and will allow billing and payment the following month after cancellation.

SKT and LGU+ will additionally introduce mobile app cancellation requests, making it available across all three mobile carriers. KT and some budget carriers already offered the service.

Common measures for carriers include guidance on cancellation procedures to inform users about penalty fees, remaining handset instalments and the loss of bundled discount benefits, and a standard for post-cancellation billing statement details that specifies mandatory items. The plan also includes providing, upon user request, recorded cancellation consultation content as a text file.

Major mobile carriers and budget carriers plan to implement the improvements within the third quarter of this year. Details and timing may differ by operator.