Why do some hold on to non-010 prefixes?

By Yoon Ja-young

Han Eun-ja, a rural housewife who sells crops through direct marketing, has been using the same mobile phone number, starting with a 011 prefix for over 15 years. She isn’t interested at all in the latest iPhone or Galaxy handsets but she is bothered by the news that she will have to give up her 011 prefix in a few years.

“I don’t understand why they are doing this. I have to keep the same number as my customers place orders through the well-known number,” she said.

Han is one of 3.5 million people in the country who have the wireless dialing prefix 011. While a vast majority of mobile phone numbers here start with 010, there are some five million sticking to other prefixes, such as 011, 016, 017, 018 and 019. They got the number when the telecommunications regulator gave different prefixes to each mobile carrier in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The regulator became determined to unify the prefix to 010 in 2004 while adopting third-generation (3G) mobile services. It obliged new subscribers as well as those switching from 2G to 3G to use 010. Since then, over 80 percent of people have changed to 010, but some people are still sticking to their old prefixes.

They are suffering many disadvantages. First of all, they can’t subscribe to 3G services or use smartphones. For these services, they have to give up the old prefix, or make a pledge to change to 010 after three years. They are neglected by handset manufacturers and mobile carriers.

They have to choose from a very small number of 2G handsets as manufacturers are giving up on the ever-shrinking market, and they don’t receive the subsidies from mobile carriers that smartphone users enjoy. Most 2G customers in the country, however, are using the service to keep their phone number.

For those running their own businesses or engaged in sales, established mobile phone numbers are their cornerstone assets.

Lim Jung-sook, an insurance saleswoman, says her customers would call her after a few years for new subscriptions. They wouldn’t able to reach her if she gave up her 018 prefix.

People less sensitive to technological trends say they don’t need smartphones.

“Voice calls and text message are all I expect from my mobile. With my 2G phone, I pay only around 20,000 won a month. Why should I spend a lot of money for services that are useless for me?” asked Kim Ju-young, a housewife in Seoul.

Some people also favor 2G services and consequently the non-010 prefix for quality. The 2G bandwidth technically provides better voice calls and mobile carriers invested a huge amount of money on the 2G network in the past.

“We have over 1 million gap fillers around the country and hence there is almost no shadow area. Those who stick to the 2G service have pride in their 011 prefix and believe that the call never fails,” an SK Telecom spokesman said.

Though KT suspended its 2G services despite conflict with subscribers, SK Telecom and LG Uplus said they have no plan to scrap theirs for the next few years. However, 2G users are decreasing.

“2G subscribers are decreasing slowly. We had 6.8 million 2G subscribers as of the end of December, which compares with 7.9 million halfway through last year,” the SK Telecom spokesman said. He said his firm will ponder what to do when the number falls below a certain level, whether to continue serving them or induce them to migrate to other services.

LG Uplus also has no plan to halt 2G services or repel non-010 users. Around 11 percent of its customers are using non-010 prefixes as of the end of last year.

An LG Uplus representative expected that most people will have switched to 010 in a few years. “They will be switching to smartphones. The ratio of non-010 users is decreasing by 0.4 percentage point each month. I think 94 to 95 percent of our subscribers will be have 010 prefixes by next year.”

The Korea Communications Commission, the telecommunications regulator, is scheduled to scrap 2G services after 2018. It says the non-010 prefixes, which are like national assets, can be used for other purposes. Some people, however, regard their phone number as their identity. It remains to be seen how the problem will be resolved.