By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter

Mobile phone operators are showing signs of caving in to pressure to lower their voice rates, but it seems it's still a stretch to declare consumers the winners just yet.

Following a series of reports claiming that Korea has some of the highest mobile rates among countries with similar penetration, government officials are pressing wireless carriers to find ways to shave the numbers on monthly bills.

However, it is likely that cheaper voice minutes will result in pricier devices, with the carriers considering cutting their spending on handset subsidies to make up for the expected loss in service charges.

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country's broadcasting and telecommunications regulator, admits it will be difficult to impose dramatic changes to standard rates and billing structures currently used by wireless carriers.

``I think the recent reports from the OECD about Koreans paying more for wireless services than consumers from other countries are flawed, as the results look different according to perspective,'' said an official from the KCC's telecommunications service policy bureau.

``It's not that the rates aren't burdensome, but you really can't force the wireless carriers to just lower their rates by a certain margin all of a sudden, as that could seriously affect their business.''

SK Telecom, the country's largest mobile operator with a 50-percent-plus market share, is currently considering a new price package that would allow subscribers to pay less for voice services instead of subsidies for the phone.

The company expects to launch the new package in two or three months, including the four weeks it would take for KCC's regulatory approval.

LG Telecom, the smallest of the three mobile carriers, is also considering enabling subscribers to trade handset subsidies for lower voice rates. KT, the No. 2 wireless company, is making no promises about lowered voice rates, but said it would consider providing more information to subscribers about their usage patterns and allow them to be more specific in choosing the range of mobile services they pay for.

``It's difficult to find that perfect formula, where we can make voice services more affordable without hurting our revenue numbers. Something has to give,'' said an official from one of the companies.

All in all, the mobile operators won't be compromising too much of their missions to take as much as possible from the wallets of their customers in return for the least amount of services. Of course, the same could be said for any company on the face of the Earth that hasn't gone bankrupt, but local consumer rights advocates claim that the level of greed shown by Korean telecommunications companies is exceptional.

In a report last week, the Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) claimed that Koreans last year paid the most among wireless users in 15 countries with similar mobile usage rates, including the United States, Britain, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Based on the mobile rate charged by the top carrier among selected Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries plus Hong Kong and Singapore, SK Telecom was the third most expensive behind Japan's NTT DoCoMo and the Netherlands' KPN Mobile.

This was followed by an OECD report earlier this month that claimed Korea's phone rate is higher than the average of OECD countries. According to the data, the average Korean spends $343.3 per year on voice calling and messaging, compared to the OECD average of $335.7.

``Whenever there were calls for lowered voice rates, the regulators and carriers have been avoiding the problems by introducing a slew of `discount packages' instead,'' said Jeong Eung-hui, an official from the Green Consumer Networks.

``You really can't expect things to be different this time around.''

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr