How SKT data breach pushed inflation up by 0.6 percentage point
The fallout from SK Telecom's data breach last year has resurfaced in consumer inflation data a year later. In an unexpected twist, a 50 percent cut in mobile phone bills for more than 20 million subscribers at the time created a base effect that pushed up last month’s consumer inflation rate by nearly 0.6 percentage point, government data showed Wednesday. According to the Ministry of Data and…
The recent surge in consumer inflation in South Korea can be traced back to a data breach at SK Telecom, the country's largest wireless carrier, which took place last year. The breach resulted in a 50 percent reduction in mobile phone bills for over 20 million subscribers at the time. This significant decrease in monthly expenses for a large number of customers created a base effect that contributed to a notable increase in consumer inflation last month.
According to data released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics, the consumer price index (CPI) rose to 120.05 in August, marking a 3.1 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Inflation had been on an upward trajectory, rising from 2.6 percent in April to 3.1 percent in May, and 3.2 percent in June before it saw a slight decline to 2.8 percent in July.
However, it has since returned to the 3 percent range, just a month later. At first glance, the latest inflation data might indicate that inflationary pressures are gathering momentum once again. Nevertheless, the recent increase in August can largely be attributed to the diminishing impact of the SK Telecom mobile bill discounts, which were implemented last year following the data breach incident.
These discounts potentially affected around 25 million customers, and their fading effect may account for the observed rise in consumer inflation.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
