South Korea has launched a research group to overhaul how it sets spectrum reallocation fees, aiming to make a process long criticized as discretionary more transparent before the first 5G licenses come up for renewal in November 2028. The Ministry of Science and ICT said the panel of legal, economic, business administration and technology experts will review spectrum's economic value, changes in market and policy conditions, and international practice. The issue has remained contentious under the current Radio Waves Act because fees are based on revenue in principle but the law does not spell out detailed formulas. All four reallocations since 2011 have triggered pricing disputes, most notably in 2020 when a 310MHz 2G-4G renewal ended at ₩3.17 trillion after operators sought ₩1.6 trillion and the government argued for ₩4.4 trillion. The next test is the 300MHz 3.5GHz 5G block used by SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus. The ministry's latest framing stresses that the spread of AI services and the push toward 6G have changed the spectrum environment, prompting calls to move beyond models based mainly on past revenue or auction prices and to account more fully for usage efficiency, carrier investment incentives and communications competitiveness.