By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter


The government and the ruling Uri Party agreed Thursday to lower the price of caller-identification services offered by mobile service providers by asking them to include the services in basic monthly rates.

In a policy coordination meeting, the two sides agreed to request that SK Telecom, which has maintained over 50 percent of the market share, include the caller ID service in basic monthly fees.

``We’ve decided it’s better for the Ministry of Information and Communication to discuss the matter with SK Telecom as our request could be construed as an anti-market policy hampering the business of private enterprises,’’ Rep. Hong Chang-sun of the ruling party told reporters after the meeting.

The nation’s three mobile service providers _ SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom _ have earned some 1.13 trillion won ($1.07 billion) between January 2001 and June 2004 by providing the caller ID services, according to the Ministry of Information and Communication. SK and KTF have charged their customers 1,000 won per month for the service. LG customers pay 2,000 won per month.

Some 25 civic groups including Korea YMCA have demanded the service be free of charge or at least much cheaper.

Currently, mobile service providers are required to obtain the government’s approval on basic rates including mobile phone charges, membership registration fees and wireless Internet access services. But rates of additional services such as caller ID and short message services (SMS) have been decided at each company’s own discretion.

The government and the ruling party also agreed to review whether to maintain or lower the current SMS rates.

``The current rate charging 30 won for sending one short message is a rip-off considering it’s much lower production costs,’’ said Rep. Yum Dong-yun of the ruling party during an Assembly inspection of the ministry on Sept. 23. Last year, SK and KTF earned 230 billion won and 110 billion won, respectively, thanks to SMS, while LG earned 60 billion won, according to Yum.

According to a survey of 5,675 mobile phone users conducted by YMCA in May, some 60 percent of those surveyed replied caller ID services are too expensive. About 40 percent of the interviewees said the service should be offered free and 21 percent said 500 won would be enough to pay for the service each month.

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