South Korea's KT tells court it was caught between two watchdogs in cartel appeal
By Jenny Lee ( January 15, 2026, 08:00 GMT | Insight) -- South Korean mobile carrier KT opened its court appeal on Thursday by urging judges to see the alleged telecom cartel case not as a backroom pact among competitors, but as conduct carried out under a regulator-run compliance framework that was later “made to look like collusion” in antitrust enforcement. At the first oral hearing in its challenge to sanctions by the Korea Fair Trade Commission over alleged coordination of mobile sales incentives with rivals SK Telecom and LG Uplus, KT told the Seoul High Court that carriers had been pushed into what it called an untenable bind between two watchdogs — a structure that, in its view, leaves companies penalized no matter which regulator they comply with.South Korean mobile carrier KT opened its court appeal on Thursday by urging judges to see the alleged telecom cartel case not as a backroom pact among competitors, but as conduct carried out under a regulator-run compliance framework that was later “made to look like collusion” in antitrust enforcement....
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