Zero-won phone bills for frequent bank customers: Woori Bank shakes up budget mobile market

Woori Bank, a late entrant to the budget mobile market, has rolled out a plan that lowers phone bills based on customers' banking activity. Customers who keep a salary transfer above a certain amount and sign up for products such as a housing subscription savings account can have their monthly bill discounted in effect to zero. Though a latecomer to the budget mobile business, Woori Bank is betting that an unconventional offer can reshape the market.

Banking industry sources said Wednesday that Woori Bank rolled out two types of budget mobile plans called "WON Celeb" on Sept. 1.

The plans stand out for cutting phone bills when customers meet certain banking activity thresholds, such as salary transfers or pension payments.

Customers who transfer at least 1 million won ($746) in monthly salary or newly open one of the four public pensions receive a 10,000-won discount on their phone bill. Additional discounts apply for setting up automatic bill payment, opening a housing subscription savings account, a Samsung Wallet Money-linked Woori account, or a savings or time deposit account.

The "WON Celeb 15GB+" plan carries a monthly base fee of 20,000 won. Combining the bank's own 5,000-won discount with an additional 15,000-won discount for meeting all the banking activity conditions brings the total discount to 20,000 won — effectively making the monthly bill zero.

Budget mobile carriers have typically run promotions that offer discounts only for a limited period or require payments through specific means such as credit cards. Woori Bank said it instead tied its discounts to ongoing banking activity to ease the burden of meeting one-off conditions. "By not limiting the benefits to a one-time giveaway, subscribers can see real savings on their phone bills," a Woori Bank official said. "The effect of cutting customers' fixed costs is clear."

Woori Bank will give every subscriber to the new plans 30,000 won worth of "Honey Money," a form of credit usable across Woori Financial Group's platforms. Subscribers will also receive a monthly 5,000-won membership coupon for the duration of their contract, along with a data voucher of up to 20 gigabytes.

Woori Bank formally entered the budget mobile business in April last year. Despite being a late mover, it has quickly drawn in users by leveraging the bank's platform strength. According to Woori Bank, the number of budget mobile subscriptions rose from 46,000 at the end of last year to 86,000 by the end of August this year — an 87 percent increase in less than a year. The bank expects cumulative subscribers to top 100,000 by the end of this year.

Woori Bank aims to make its budget mobile business a key weapon for expanding its customer base. The new "zero-won phone bill" plan marks CEO Jeong Jin-wan's latest bet to boost user numbers across Woori Financial Group. Since Jeong took office, Woori Bank has added 2.5 million subscribers after being selected to operate Samsung Wallet Money. Last year, it also began drawing in Naver Pay users through the "Npay Money Woori Account," launched jointly with Naver Pay. In fact, the number of Woori Bank users has grown by about 1.2 million between the end of 2023 — shortly after Jeong took office — and August this year.

Going forward, Woori Bank plans to break its budget mobile plans into categories tailored to salary earners, pension recipients, young professionals and self-employed business owners for targeted marketing. A plan aimed at self-employed customers, set to launch soon, will offer an additional cut to the base fee as a form of small-business support, along with cash back for meeting a certain level of deposit activity.

"With budget mobile subscribers nearly doubling in a year, this new plan is our bet on using phone bill benefits to attract new customers and convert them into banking clients," a Woori Bank official said. "We plan to keep growing budget mobile into a core channel for expanding our customer base, through tailored plans for salary earners, pension recipients and other customer segments."