정보통신산업과 독과점규제

Abstract

In Korea, the government has controlled the telecommunications system since

1960, because the telecommunications service was considered to be a public

service. However, such control systems have been increasingly ineffective as

advances in technology have expanded the capacity of telecommunications

networks, and new systems and services have been developed which allow

people to by-pass traditional infrastructures. Moreover, the rapid change in the

social and economic environments has made existing telecommunications

legislation and regulation irrelevant and redundant in an increasing number of

cases.

The Korean government has endeavored to restructure and deregulate the

telecommunications industry since 1980. As a result, new providers have been

able to enter the international call, long distance call and mobile phone sectors

since 1990, and also the local call sector since 1997. However, the

telecommunications industry is still suffering from the obligations imposed by

various redundant government regulations, and is in the process of transforming

from a regulated industry to a competitive one.

At the same time, telecommunications operators are obliged to comply with

the requirements of competition law, as the Korean Fair Trade Commission has

been applying the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act to the

telecommunications industry since 1987. Applying competition laws and

government regulations to the telecommunications industry raises manifold

conflicts which may impede the further development of the industry.