Seven out of 10 customers who left KT after it decided to waive early termination fees switched to SK Telecom, data showed. Analysts say SKT’s aggressive marketing is drawing customers as KT’s compensation package falls short of expectations.

Industry data showed that 130,599 customers left KT from Dec. 31, when it began waiving early termination fees, through Jan. 7. During that period, 74 percent of customers leaving KT chose SKT. On a daily basis, more than 28,000 people at most moved from KT to SKT.

Earlier, in July last year, SKT included fee discounts and expanded additional benefits in a 500 billion won customer compensation package related to hacking. By contrast, KT’s customer compensation package did not include fee discounts.

KT estimated the package at about 450 billion won, but it was assessed as having limited direct effects in reducing telecom bills. It also appeared to have partly affected customer churn.

Consumer perceptions also differ over the incidents involving SKT and KT. SKT had a larger scale of personal data leaks, but KT suffered direct financial damage. An industry official said, "From the standpoint of KT subscribers, there may have been a perception that anxiety is greater while compensation is relatively smaller."

Analysts also say SKT, which previously suffered a SIM hacking incident, is benefiting in this phase from having offered a relatively quick apology and compensation policy. A telecommunications industry official said, "It is the post-incident response, more than the incident itself, that moves customers," adding, "It is as if it has put its crisis response manual in order through past experience."

SKT’s previously proposed membership policy also appears to be having an effect. SKT restores a customer’s pre-cancellation tenure and T Membership grade if the customer rejoins within 36 months after terminating an SKT line between April 19 and July 14, 2025.

The longer a customer has stayed, the greater the perceived impact of such benefits. That is because fee discounts widen in proportion to tenure. Analysts say customers who left SKT out of anxiety over SIM hacking are returning because of a perception that KT is also not necessarily safe. An industry official said, "The share of U-turn customers who went to KT during the SIM hacking and return to SKT is likely not small."

SKT is also stepping up on-the-ground marketing. It is running a policy to refund fees when customers use certain plans. Some distributors are also said to be absorbing customers leaving KT by paying subsidies even if they only change SIM cards without replacing handsets.

Some also say KT’s choice could be relatively advantageous in defending earnings over the medium to long term. Another telecommunications industry official said, "It made a choice that does not directly hit cash flow through telecom revenue by excluding fee discounts," adding, "Short-term customer churn will be unavoidable, but the decline in results could be more limited than SKT."

In fact, SKT’s consolidated operating profit in the third quarter last year, when the hacking incident occurred, fell 90.9 percent from a year earlier. There were no direct financial losses from the hacking, but fee discounts and customer compensation costs weighed heavily on results. By contrast, KT, which excluded fee discounts, is expected to be able to maintain cash flow from telecom revenue to some extent.

Meanwhile, LG Uplus and budget mobile operators also absorbed some customers leaving KT, but the gap with SKT is large. LG Uplus attracted 4,000 to 7,000 of KT’s departing customers per day. Customers who moved to budget mobile operators were also not enough to reverse the overall flow.

KT’s early termination fee waiver runs through the 13th. The industry expects demand for number portability to continue through the end of the waiver. Some also say the market could pause for a while afterward until the launch of the Galaxy S26.