Han Seong-sook, CEO of Naver and the head of the Korea Internet Business Association, said that the issue of discrimination against regulated stations of Korean Internet companies’ remains, and said he would actively communicate opinions to the new government. CEO Han pointed out that the dispute on network usage fees between Facebook and SK Broadband is ‘unfair behavior of foreign companies’ and will clarify its stance on the government and telecommunications industry.

CEO Han said, "The environment in which Korean Internet companies are discriminated against is still unchanged. Recent dispute between Facebook and SK Broadband clearly shows the problem.” at an opening ceremony at the "Partner Square" support center in Naver`s small business center in Haeundae, Busan, on May 24.

This is a statement aimed at Facebook, which stuck in the position that it cannot pay for network fee while demanding addition of cache service to Korean mobile carriers. Facebook has stored `cache server` (content that users often search in the domestic Internet data center without having to import it from overseas servers) in order to smoothly serve domestic mobile carriers such as SK Broadband and LG U Plus in last year. The Facebook has asked to install the server, but it is having difficulty negotiating with Korean companies. This is because Facebook claims to require a domestic carrier to install a cache server. However Facebook said it cannot afford to pay for it. Mobile carriers are hurting the demand for Facebook because of their equity with domestic Internet companies paying hundreds of billions a year from Naver and Kakaotalk.

Due to the discontinuation of negotiations between Facebook and mobile carriers, SK broadband Internet users are experiencing inconveniences such as slow access to Facebook and Instagram access, or inability to access at all. SK Broadband claims that Facebook had a connection failure as it changed its content delivery channel. SK Broadband and LG U Plus receive Facebook content via KT network, which means that Facebook has been disconnected. However, Facebook claims that it has not changed its channel or blocked it.

CEO Han said, "In this situation, it is time for the government, the telecom industry, and the Internet industry to decide exactly what their positions should be, and for unfair things to be done away with since we will make a voice through the association. The best way is that content startups are not going to pay for network usage, and carriers need to review it.”

Besides, CEO Han expressed that "zero rating" (a mobile carrier or a specific content provider is paying the fee for the network data to the user) instead of ‘network neutrality’ (a principle that a mobile carrier should not discriminate a specific content in a communication network) is controversial. Zero rating has been a controversy recently as SK Telecom and Niantic, a developer of "Pokemon Go" game, have provided free data to Pokemon Go users. The content industry claims that large content providers, such as Google and Facebook are capable of paying data fees on behalf of their users, but they force to compromise a number of small and medium-sized content companies that are unable to pay if their zero ratings are expanded in partnership with mobile carriers .

CEO Han also added, "A lot of content start-ups will not be able to handle this structure. The association will actively discuss with mobile carriers."

Meanwhile, CEO Han introduced the Partner Square, a creator support facility for small businesses specializing in fashion, which opened in Busan on May 23, and revealed the vision of Naver shopping service called `Business AI Advisor`.

CEO Han explained, "AiRS, which is being used as a news recommendation technology, will expand its ability to provide more products to more consumers in accordance with its purchasing history in the future. Big data-based founding and marketing consulting will help in the form of a possible `Business AI Advisor`.”

Busan Partner Square is a venue for the use of the Naver platform such as △video production and broadcasting, △blogs, store farms, product promotion and exchange programs among businessmen.

By Kim Soo Yeon newsnews@


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