SKT-Pokemon Go, Partnership of ‘Zero Rating’….Network neutrality controversy to heat up again
Kim Soo Yeon | newsnews@ | 2017-03-30 10:42:55
Recently, SK Telecom and Niantic, a developer of ``Pokemon Go``, have involved in partnership that lead to controversy of providing free data to Pokemon Go users is against network neutrality.
Korean game companies along with small and medium-sized Internet content providers are not only against the principle of network neutrality that if a communication company cooperates with a specific large content provider and charges data for consumers, there should be no discrimination in the communication network.
According to the related industry on March 29, there is a voice of concern that the zero-rating partnership between the mobile service companies and the large content companies with strong financial resources will seriously undermine the ecosystem of the internet content industry as well as the domestic game companies.
SK Telecom and Niantic signed a joint marketing partnership last week, and SK Telecom will provide free data for SK Telecom’s Pokemon Go users by the end of June. It is from the fact that Niantic and SK telecom decided to bear data charge together. The two companies are willing to pay up to 250MB of data per user per month.
The content industry claims that the two companies`` zero rating services violate the ‘network neutrality’ principle. The principle of network neutrality is that internet network service providers (ISP) should treat businesses and users who operate through the internet network equally and without discrimination.
Earlier the Ministry of Creation, ICT and Future Planning has been against the launch of Kakao Pack service that can use KakaoTalk and Daum’s webtoon services within 3GB per month for KRW 3,300 without any additional data cost, under KT and Kakao cooperation in 2015.
Game industry expert said, ‘If a mobile service company chooses a particular game to support data rates, it will not be possible to compete fairly between games that are selected by mobile service companies and the companies who have not selected the particular game. There is a high possibility that a tilted playground will be created between financially strong companies with small companies and small content companies.’
The game industry, which already has a lot of negative peers, might cause difficulty for small and medium-sized companies to survive if the zero rating is increased. Especially, when there are Korean game companies’ games such as Dragon Fly, M-Game, which features mobile AR games similar to Pokemon Go, it is a clear network neutrality violation in the case of the mobile service companies continue to provide the zero rating only to certain overseas game companies. The industry claims that companies should provide equal opportunity to every user.
An Internet content industry representative said, ‘Not only games, but also large content providers that can pay data fees on behalf of users, such as Google and Facebook, expand their zero-rating in partnership with mobile service companies and small companies will lose ground. In particular, as the internet industry moves to a Web streaming model that requires more bandwidth, new content providers that lack the bargaining power and capital will be hit hard. The diversity of content itself will be seriously undermined.’
Industry experts believe that how SK Telecom - Niantic zero rating partnership will expand in the future will determine whether the network neutrality is violated. Kim Yong-gyu, Professor of Department of Economics of Hanyang University, said, ‘If SK Telecom refuses to partner with other game companies or engages in unfair business negotiations, it may be against the telecommunications law that prohibits discrimination against users and the Fair Trade Act that prohibited unfair transactions. In addition, SK Telecom has a clear network neutrality violation in favor of Pokemon Go in terms of internet data processing speed.’
Song Jae-jeong, director of the Communications Policy Division of the Ministry of Creation, ICT and Future Planning, mentioned, ‘It is too early to judge that this partnership is in violation of network neutrality and we have to see future development of the partnership’.
By Kim Soo Yeon newsnews@
[ copyright ⓒ The Digitaltimes ]
Korean game companies along with small and medium-sized Internet content providers are not only against the principle of network neutrality that if a communication company cooperates with a specific large content provider and charges data for consumers, there should be no discrimination in the communication network.
According to the related industry on March 29, there is a voice of concern that the zero-rating partnership between the mobile service companies and the large content companies with strong financial resources will seriously undermine the ecosystem of the internet content industry as well as the domestic game companies.
SK Telecom and Niantic signed a joint marketing partnership last week, and SK Telecom will provide free data for SK Telecom’s Pokemon Go users by the end of June. It is from the fact that Niantic and SK telecom decided to bear data charge together. The two companies are willing to pay up to 250MB of data per user per month.
The content industry claims that the two companies`` zero rating services violate the ‘network neutrality’ principle. The principle of network neutrality is that internet network service providers (ISP) should treat businesses and users who operate through the internet network equally and without discrimination.
Earlier the Ministry of Creation, ICT and Future Planning has been against the launch of Kakao Pack service that can use KakaoTalk and Daum’s webtoon services within 3GB per month for KRW 3,300 without any additional data cost, under KT and Kakao cooperation in 2015.
Game industry expert said, ‘If a mobile service company chooses a particular game to support data rates, it will not be possible to compete fairly between games that are selected by mobile service companies and the companies who have not selected the particular game. There is a high possibility that a tilted playground will be created between financially strong companies with small companies and small content companies.’
The game industry, which already has a lot of negative peers, might cause difficulty for small and medium-sized companies to survive if the zero rating is increased. Especially, when there are Korean game companies’ games such as Dragon Fly, M-Game, which features mobile AR games similar to Pokemon Go, it is a clear network neutrality violation in the case of the mobile service companies continue to provide the zero rating only to certain overseas game companies. The industry claims that companies should provide equal opportunity to every user.
An Internet content industry representative said, ‘Not only games, but also large content providers that can pay data fees on behalf of users, such as Google and Facebook, expand their zero-rating in partnership with mobile service companies and small companies will lose ground. In particular, as the internet industry moves to a Web streaming model that requires more bandwidth, new content providers that lack the bargaining power and capital will be hit hard. The diversity of content itself will be seriously undermined.’
Industry experts believe that how SK Telecom - Niantic zero rating partnership will expand in the future will determine whether the network neutrality is violated. Kim Yong-gyu, Professor of Department of Economics of Hanyang University, said, ‘If SK Telecom refuses to partner with other game companies or engages in unfair business negotiations, it may be against the telecommunications law that prohibits discrimination against users and the Fair Trade Act that prohibited unfair transactions. In addition, SK Telecom has a clear network neutrality violation in favor of Pokemon Go in terms of internet data processing speed.’
Song Jae-jeong, director of the Communications Policy Division of the Ministry of Creation, ICT and Future Planning, mentioned, ‘It is too early to judge that this partnership is in violation of network neutrality and we have to see future development of the partnership’.
By Kim Soo Yeon newsnews@