보편적 역무 제공과 관련된 전기통신사업법 등의 문제점과 개선방안

Legal Issues and Improvement of Telecommunications Business Act in Regard to Provision of Universal Services

The term ‘universal services’ means basic telecommunications services which any user may use at reasonable fees, regardless of time and place. The modern state should actively engage in the activities of the state to ensure the survival of the social economic underprivilege and to guarantee the conditions necessary for the people’s life. The universal services in the field of information and communication have the character of ‘social security benefit’. Constitutional grounds of the universal services are the Article 18 of the Korean Constitution that defines ‘freedom of communication’. The provision of universal services provides a prerequisite for individuals to freely communicate through communication. Constitutional grounds of universal services are Article 34 of the Korean Constitution which prescribes social fundamental rights. Especially, the universal services mean the service to provide the communication service with appropriate quality for the stable life of communication. As universal services provider designation system, which public authority exercise unilateral, has a legal problem, it is necessary to change the way of selecting universal services providers. It is possible to consider a method of bidding on a service-by-service basis by applying for a universal services provider. The Telecommunications Business Act delegated the standards and procedures for universal services provider designation to be prescribed by the Presidential Decree (Enforcement Decree of the Telecommunications Business Act), but the Enforcement Decree of the Telecommunications Business Act did not stipulate standards and procedures for universal services provider designation. The Enforcement Decree of the Telecommunication Business Act shall stipulate in detail the standards and procedures for providing universal services providers.