This article was published on Aug. 4, 2025, at 12:08 p.m. on the ChosunBiz RM Report site.
KT has been reported to have lost a legal battle regarding a 160 billion won 'collusion in public projects bidding' case as of the 4th. The Supreme Court ruled that KT, which led the collusion, must pay 1.2 billion won in damages to public institutions.
The Supreme Court's Civil Division 3 (Chief Justice Noh Kyung-pil) dismissed the damage claim lawsuit filed by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) against KT without a hearing on June 17. KISTI has won in all instances, including the Supreme Court.
According to the ruling, KISTI conducted a bidding process in 2015 for selecting a contractor to build and operate a network connecting 16 universities and research institutions across the country. In this process, KT received a promise from SK Broadband and LG Uplus not to participate in the bidding in exchange for approximately 3.6 billion won. Subsequently, KT signed a contract worth about 12 billion won exclusively.
An investigation by the Fair Trade Commission revealed that four telecommunications companies, including KT, SK Broadband, LG Uplus, and SEJONG Telecom, colluded in the bidding for dedicated line projects for 12 public sector agencies from 2015 to 2017. A dedicated line refers to a communication line used exclusively by specific corporations, as opposed to a public network used by the general public.
The contract amounts secured by these telecommunications companies through 12 projects are estimated to be about 161.4 billion won. KT won bids for 8 of the 12 projects. Consequently, the Fair Trade Commission imposed corrective orders and a total penalty surcharge of over 13.3 billion won on each of these companies in 2019, and reported KT, which led the collusion, to prosecutors. In April of last year, KT received a confirmed fine of 150 million won related to this criminal case.
The nine public institutions that suffered damages filed lawsuits for compensation against the telecommunications companies one after another. KISTI filed this lawsuit against KT in 2021.
The first trial ruled that KT must compensate KISTI approximately 1.2 billion won. The first trial court noted, 'KT submitted a clean contract stating that it would pay 10% of the total contract amount as damages if KT engaged in bid collusion and related acts.' It also stated, 'Subsequently, KT recognized that it had colluded in bidding, receiving penalty surcharges from the Fair Trade Commission in 2019 related to this case.' KT appealed the first trial ruling, but the second trial upheld the first trial ruling and dismissed the appeal.
KT also appealed the second trial decision. However, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal without a separate hearing and affirmed the compensation amount of 1.2 billion won.
Meanwhile, in this lawsuit, KISTI was represented by the law firm Won, while KT was represented by the law firm Yulchon.