55% of Subscribers Use ‘010’
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
The number of mobile phone subscribers changing the start of their phone numbers to ``010'' has been accelerating mainly due to a faster penetration of 3G services here.
According to data from the nation's big three mobile operators, the number of subscribers using ``010'' has reached 24 million or 55 percent of the 43.5 million mobile phone population as of the end of December last year.
The percentage represents a sharp rise from 50.6 percent four months ago.
Some 10.8 million users used ``011,'' 4.04 million ``016,'' 2.07 million ``019,'' and 1.7 million used ``017'' as their prefix number.
Officials said the number integration into ``010'' will come sooner than expected as the government enforced the number integration scheme to help simplify mobile phone numbers to reduce the dominance of top player SK Telecom in the market in 2004.
``If the number of subscribers using `010' surpasses 80 percent, we will forcibly scrap the other numbers,'' an official from the Ministry of Information and Communication said.
Each mobile operator was given specific three-digit prefix numbers to distinguish their customers but under the integration policy, all users who sign up for 3G services are given the new prefix number ``010.''
In South Korea, the younger generation is more responsive to the new mobile platform, which offers video telephony and other enhanced multimedia functions.
In line with this trend, mobile operators have been focusing on 3G services in a bid to escape the saturated 2G sector.