By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Telephone users will be able to switch to Internet-based carriers while retaining their existing numbers starting Friday.
However, bargain hunters will be disappointed to learn that voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) may be less of a cost-saver than originally advertised.
There have been predictions that the implementation of number portability will allow the voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) market to explode due to cheaper call rates. Telephony carriers like LG Dacom and SK Broadband are looking to use VoIP to win customers from industry giant, KT, which controls more than 90 percent of the country's fixed-line telephony customers.
Although VoIP calls offer about the same rates as traditional fixed-line services, it doesn't charge extra for long-distance calls and also offers much cheaper rates for overseas calls. And VoIP carriers providing unlimited free calls between subscribers have also been a major draw factor.
Currently, there are about 1.7 million VoIP customers here, with LG Dacom, which has just a 1.3 percent share of the fixed-line market, controlling more than 1 million of them.
According to industry estimates, the number of VoIP subscribers will reach 2 million by the end of the year and 4 million at the end of 2009.
Although the market for Web-based calls has grown significantly over the year, many telephone customers have been reluctant to switch carriers due to the 070 dialing prefix for VoIP numbers. VoIP subscribers have complained that their calls are often ignored due to the 070 prefix, with people suspecting them as telemarketing calls.
This made number portability a crucial step for growth of the VoIP market. However, VoIP users who refuse to use the 070 prefix may not see notable changes in their monthly bills.
The VoIP carriers have yet to agree on interconnection rates, which means that subscribers will be charged 38 won per three minutes at least until the end of the year, which isn't much different from the 39 won per three minutes for fixed-line telephony calls.
And although VoIP carriers have not been charging for calls between subscribers, they are reluctant to expand that same benefit for customers who insist on keeping their numbers.
According to the companies, calls made by VoIP users using their old numbers have to be relayed through the public switch telephone network (PSTN) of their former fixed-line carrier, such as KT, before reaching the VoIP network of their new operator.
This forces the VoIP carrier to pay an interconnection fee of 3.19 won per minute on every call, making it harder to provide free calls for subscribers gathered through number portability.
``It's not feasible for us to provide free calls when we have to spend that kind of money on interconnection fees,'' said an LG Dacom spokesman.