• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.19-27
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• 2022

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly changed the Lifeline Program, a telecommunications rate discount program for low-income Americans. As the reliance on online activities such as remote work, distance education, and online shopping grows because of the spread of COVID-19, there is a concern that the digital divide will widen among low-income households that struggle to access internet infrastructure due to the burden of access rates. Accordingly, the US Congress passed a bill to help lower the internet bill for low-income households using the government budget to close the digital divide. The Lifeline Program, which is a part of the universal service obligation, has been in charge of the telecommunications rate discount for low-income households. However, according to the new law, the internet rate discount program based on the government budget was implemented beginning in 2021. As the internet rate discount based on the government budget begins, the US telecommunication rate discount system is transitioning from a system in which telecommunication industry support was borne by operators to one in which public support from the government budget will play a significant role. In this paper, we will look at recent changes in the US telecommunications rate discount program and their implications.

• KIPS Transactions on Computer and Communication Systems
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.167-176
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• 2019

Recently, as the types of services that can be enjoyed in mobile telecommunication networks such as social networks and video streaming are increasing, mobile users(MUs) can access mobile contents easily by consuming mobile data. However, under a mobile telecommunication environment, MUs have to pay a high data fee to a network service provider(SP) in order to enjoy contents. The 'data sponsor' technique, introduced as a way to solve this problem, has attracted attention as a breakthrough method for enhancing contents accessibility of MUs. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that determines the optimal discount rate through the Stackelberg game in the data sponsor environment. We also propose an algorithm to design edge caching, which caches highly popular content for MUs on edge server, through many-to-many matching game. Simulation results clearly indicate that the profit for CP's content consumption is improved by about 6~11%, and the profit of CP according to the ratio of edge caching is improved by about 12% than the other existing schemes under data sponsor environment.

• Informatization Policy
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.88-107
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• 2011

This paper proposes a prepaid system promotion policy for the 3G(WCDMA) MVNO with regard to the newly included paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of Article 32 (User Protection) and Article 38 (Provision of Wholesale Telecommunications Services) of the Telecommunication Business Act, which was revised on March 22, 2010. As of June 2011, there are only a few prepaid system subscribers to the mobile communications service due to various limitations, including prepay, interconnection, carrier selection, the MVNO policy, and number portability. However, overseas communications service regulatory agencies and service providers are increasingly presenting policies and strategies for mobile prepaid plans, in order to accommodate the various customer demands that are increasing the use of smart phones and data. This paper advances various proposals concerning promotion of the prepaid system by the 3G MVNO under the current Telecommunication Business Act, including separation of the prepaid data system and the mobile network; introduction of a monthly fixed-rate hybrid prepaid system, a top-up system and USIM system; introduction of mobile network carrier selection; differentiated retail discounts between prepaid and post-paid prices; revision of the retail discount policy for wholesale provision; increase in the number of mandatory service providers; and in-depth consideration of the introduction of a number portability policy for the prepaid and post-paid systems.