SK Telecom partially won a first-instance administrative lawsuit challenging Fair Trade Commission sanctions over exaggerated advertising of 5G speeds. The previously imposed fine of about 16.83 billion won was cancelled.

According to the legal community on Thursday, the Seoul High Court's Administrative Division 3 on Wednesday ruled partly in favour of SKT in its lawsuit seeking to overturn corrective orders and an order to pay a fine against the Fair Trade Commission.

In May 2023, the Fair Trade Commission imposed fines on the country's three mobile carriers, including SKT, KT and LG Uplus, for what it said was unfair advertising related to 5G service speeds. SKT received a fine of 16.83 billion won and other measures including corrective orders.

The commission at the time took issue with the three carriers advertising the theoretical maximum speed of 20 Gbps as if it were a speed that could actually be used. It also pointed to advertising, without objective grounds, that their services were faster than competitors'. SKT filed the lawsuit in August 2023, challenging the commission's measures.

The court on the day said the ads were false or exaggerated, deceptive and likely to mislead consumers, recognising illegality. But it found problems with the commission's method of calculating the fine.

It said the commission should calculate the fine based on revenue generated during the violation period, but miscalculated the period in which SKT's exaggerated advertising was conducted, resulting in errors in revenue as well.

The court said, "There is illegality in that the fine in this case was calculated by incorrectly recognising the violation period of the advertising conduct subject to the imposition," and added, "The request to cancel the fine has merit and is accepted, and the remaining requests are dismissed."