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Over 150,000 KT users switch mobile carriers in 9 days after penalty waiver

Published: 09 Jan. 2026, 15:18

A KT store is seen in Seoul on Jan. 1. [NEWS1]

More than 150,000 customers of KT Corp., Korea's second-largest mobile carrier, have left the company for a different service provider after KT began waiving early termination fees following a major data breach, industry sources said Friday.

According to the sources, 154,851 KT users switched to rival carriers between Dec. 31, 2025, and Thursday, averaging more than 17,000 departures per day.

On Thursday alone, 24,252 subscribers left KT, including 15,701 who moved to SK Telecom.

Starting Dec. 31, 2025, KT customers have been allowed to terminate their contracts without penalties as part of the company's compensation program following the incident, which involved unauthorized mobile payments. The fee waiver program is in effect for two weeks until Tuesday.

SK Telecom, the country's largest carrier, which implemented a similar penalty waiver in July after a large-scale data leak, lost about 160,000 users following its own incident.

Yonhap