SK Telecom has rejected a Korea Communications Commission(KCC) panel’s recommendation to extend penalty fee waivers for customers canceling services this year after a hacking incident in April that exposed the personal data of all 25 million of its users.

Industry sources said Thursday that the company failed to submit a formal response by the committee’s deadline, meaning the recommendation was automatically deemed rejected.

The KCC panel had ruled that SKT should fully waive mobile service termination fees and cover half the penalties for bundled products such as internet and IPTV, but an SKT official said accepting the decision would cause severe financial and legal ripple effects.

The company has reportedly already incurred more than 1 trillion won, about 720 million U.S. dollars, in losses from the breach. 

With SKT refusing the non-binding decision, users who sought mediation may now turn to lawsuits.

Meanwhile, another telecoms giant, KT, also rejected a separate recommendation by the KCC to compensate customers who pre-ordered the Samsung Galaxy S25 under a “First 1,000 Only” promotion that was later rescinded after oversubscription.

A KT official said it had already provided sufficient additional benefits and therefore decided not to comply.