South Korea's telecom watchdog said Thursday it has slapped a seven-day business suspension on SK Telecom Co. for providing retail stores with cellphone subsidies exceeding the legal limit.
  

Early this year, the Korea Communications Commission said it would impose a business suspension on the country's top mobile carrier for illegal subsidies to its vendors meant to lure new subscribers away from its two rivals: KT Corp. and LG Uplus Inc.
  

The suspension will be in effect from Oct. 1-7, according to the KCC.
  

In Korea, a mobile carrier is only allowed to provide 200,000 won ($168) as a subsidy per customer, in accordance with a new handset subsidy law that took effect in October last year.
  

The law is aimed at curbing mobile carriers' cutthroat marketing through excessive subsidies that had been cited as the main reason for rising cellphone prices.    
  

SK Telecom was also fined 23.5 billion won by the watchdog for giving some 2,000 new subscribers more than double the amount of the legal limit in January.  (Yonhap)