South Korean Telcos Will Charge for Mobile VOIP

In an illustration of the ways regulatory frameworks affect business models, the Korea Communications Commission has decided to allow mobile operators, SK Telecom, KT and LG U to charge users to use mobile VoIP.


That practice, which levies an additional fee to use a lawful application, is prohibited in the United States, not so much by network neutrality rules, but by the Federal Communications Commission's "Internet Freedoms" principles, which stipulate that users have the right to use any lawful applications after having paid for a broadband subscription giving users Internet access.


But different regulations can, and do exist, in other markets. 


The new rules appear a direct response to mobile service provider concern about over the top VoIP provider KakaoTalk, which has 36 million Korean users. There are about 50 million Korean mobile phone users.


Another issue is whether such rules will apply to other services, such as Apple's FaceTime, when those services use mobile broadband bandwidth.