Mobile users with traditional numbers fall below 1 mln

Published : Feb 14, 2017 - 10:14 Updated : Feb 14, 2017 - 10:14

South Korean mobile service users with traditional numbers, starting with old prefix such as 011 and 016, significantly dropped to below 1 million, the government said Tuesday, more than a decade after the introduction of a prefix number integration policy.

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said a total of 970,000 people were using mobile numbers that start with 011, 016, 017, 018 and 019 as of the end of January.

(Yonhap)

In 2004, the government introduced 010 as a unified telephone prefix for mobile phones as part of efforts to promote fair competition among mobile carriers. Each mobile operator had given different three-digit prefix numbers to their customers but under the integration policy, all users who sign up for 3G communications were given the new prefix number 010.

The country's largest mobile carrier, SK Telecom Co., and the smallest player, LG Uplus Co., said they plan to scrap the old prefix numbers as their 2G network service will be terminated by June 30, 2021.

The ministry said it plans to make a decision soon to come up with a revised bill to end the 2G service and notify the users of the policy change.

"The ministry is in discussion with the two mobile carriers regarding the notification of the 2G service termination and when to do so," said a ministry official not to be named, adding that the decision is likely to be made sometime next year.

The ministry earlier allowed KT Corp. users with traditional numbers to change to the new prefix numbers for more than one year before suspending the old numbers. (Yonhap)