KT has begun retrieving femtocells (ultra-small mobile base stations), which were identified as the method used in the hacking incident involving unauthorized micro-payments via mobile carrier billing. The company decided to give users who return femtocells a wired/wireless service discount coupon worth 60,000 won. After KT CEO Kim Young-shub acknowledged at a National Assembly hearing on the hacking incident on the 24th that "femtocell retrieval management was poor," the company has moved quickly.
According to industry sources on Oct. 2, since Sept. 18, KT launched a full inspection of 43,000 femtocells among the 232,000 ultra-small base stations it manages that showed no usage history for three months, and it has been confirmed that customers who agree to return the devices will receive a wired/wireless service discount coupon worth 60,000 won.
KT said, "We plan to distribute the coupons sequentially to customers who have not yet received them." However, rather than compensation, the coupons are meant to encourage consent for inspections because, in many cases, a specialist technician needs to visit the home.
A femtocell is an ultra-small base station that provides communications within a 10-meter radius. It is a device that provides LTE service inside homes or small buildings with poor radio environments. Currently, SK Telecom and LG Uplus do not provide coupons or cash to customers when retrieving femtocells. After being criticized at the hearing for poor femtocell management, Kim brought out financial support to encourage retrieval.
The full inspection is conducted by the company calling customers and visually checking the devices, among other methods. KT plans to strengthen management of equipment that is in normal use, remove and retrieve equipment confirmed as unused, and permanently block network access for faulty equipment. Even if customers have moved or canceled KT service, the company will contact them to retrieve the femtocell. If a customer requests removal, retrieval will, of course, proceed immediately.
KT plans to complete femtocell retrieval by the end of October. The company said there will be no difference in communications quality before and after, as retrieval is being conducted only for unused equipment. A KT official said, "After a specialist technician visiting the home checks the on-site communications quality and confirms there are no issues, we retrieve the device."