Gov't to halve the number of public phones by 2020

By Yoon Sung-won

The number of public telephone booths will be reduced to less than 40,000 nationwide by 2020, nearly half that as of the end of last year, according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Friday.

Under its plan to reform the nationwide public phone management system, the ministry said it will set a standard for the optimal number of public phones in each region, reduce the user fee rate for public phones from 90 percent at present, and gradually remove surplus booths. As of the end of last year, there were about 70,000 public phones in Korea.

“We will continue to come up with measures to effectively manage public phone services,” an official at the ministry said.

Though the explosive adoption of mobile phones here has dramatically reduced the use of public phones, people are still using it as a general service.

KT, which used to take charge in the public phone service as a state-run corporation in the past, still operates it despite poor profitability after privatization. Other telecom companies ― SK Telecom and LG Uplus ― are paying user fees to the nation’s largest fixed-line operator. As of 2014, this totaled 13.3 billion won ($11.4 million).

The ministry said it will reduce the user fee rate for public phones to 70 percent this year and reduce it by 20 percent every year to make it zero by 2020. This plan is expected to be started in May next year, after revisions in January and March, according to the ministry.

The ministry added that it will maintain the distribution of public phones for welfare facilities even after the plan is introduced. Nevertheless, expectations are that public phones will be hard to find in the country except in public transportation facilities, public offices, healthcare facilities, schools and mountainous regions.

“Though less people are using public phones these days, we still need to maintain them in a certain number because there is still demand,” the ministry official said.