LG Uplus will expand customer benefits for the summer holiday season, including roaming and membership, local tourism and support for young customers.

LG Uplus said on Wednesday it will strengthen everyday perks to ease customer burdens amid high prices and raise the value of telecom services. The move is part of measures to stabilise livelihoods discussed at a July 23 meeting between the science and technology deputy prime minister and executives of the three mobile carriers.

It will first expand roaming benefits for overseas travellers. Through "Ixio Roaming Call," based on the AI calling agent "Ixio," it will provide free international voice calls. Customers using Ixio can make domestic and international voice calls overseas without separate call charges if they connect to Wi-Fi, even without subscribing to a roaming plan.

If families travelling overseas subscribe to "Roaming Pass data sharing," it will provide an additional 3 GB of data to the account holder. It also plans to expand support for tablet roaming and data benefits for customers using roaming plans.

It will also strengthen benefits for young customers under "Uth." It will offer Uth membership, up to 2 GB of data roaming and five benefits in Japan. It will also hold the "Uth AI Shorts Festival" with total prize money of 100 million won. The first-place winner will receive an award from the science and technology deputy prime minister and an AI training opportunity in Los Angeles.

Everyday discounts through the "Uplus Double" membership programme will also be expanded. LG Uplus will operate 52 benefits from August, including dining out, food and beverages, shopping, culture and leisure. Key benefits include a 25 percent discount at Outback, a 50 percent discount at Domino's Pizza, up to a 9,000 won discount on Baskin Robbins family size, a coupon worth up to 27,000 won at Kurly, a 50 percent discount at Ocean World and a 55 percent discount at Seoul Land. It will also add new partners including Longblack, Milkin and Icon Golf.

It will also run experience-based programmes linked to local tourism. Through programmes such as a water pool party at Legoland in Chuncheon and an experience programme at Hwadam Forest, it will offer customers opportunities to use tourism and leisure content. It will also expand benefits for long-term customers of at least 10 years and membership VVIP customers. In August, it will hold an exclusive invitation event for the musical "Dear Evan Hansen" and invite 1,100 customers.

LG Uplus also plans to pursue win-win cooperation with the broader telecom industry ecosystem, including fostering a healthy distribution environment and improving wholesale rates for budget carriers.

An LG Uplus official said the company expanded benefits that customers can feel in daily life during the summer holiday season and the peak consumption period. The official added it will continue to increase benefits that reflect customers' usage behaviour and lifestyle patterns.