Household telecom bills hit new high

Korean households’ expenditure on telecom services has continued to rise despite the repeated pledges of many politicians to force firms to rein in their ever increasing rates. 

Statistics Korea said Tuesday that the nation’s average household spent 1.93 million won a month during the second quarter of this year and 7.35 percent of the amount was for such services.

The ratio, dubbed the “telecom Engel’s coefficient,” is the highest since 2003, when the country first compiled data, and the figure has kept moving upward annually. 

“As of the second quarter of each year, the ratio was 6.84 percent in 2006 and rose to 7.08 percent in 2007, 7.23 percent in 2008 and 7.24 percent last year before reaching 7.35 percent this year,” an official from Statistics Korea said. 

Devised by German economist Ernst Engel, the Engel’s coefficient is calculated as the proportion of expenditure that is spent on food. It is high for poor homes and countries, and low for rich ones.