Cellular Phone Usage Gets Cheaper within This Year

Since the wireless internet service through the cellular phone is much more expensive than the wire telephone service, people have raised their voice that it should be lowered. Meanwhile, the cellular phone service providers, whose expensive charges have been a source of the customers` dissatisfaction, will reduce the service charge from December.

▽ Exorbitant Charges On Wireless Internet Service

According to the wireless phone service providers yesterday, the customers have paid as much as several dozen times or one hundred times for the wire phone service charge for the wireless internet service under the package program.

▽ Wireless Phone Service Reduce Charges

A governmental official said yesterday, ``The government will establish the reduction plan until the end of this month on the basis of the opinions raised in the hearings on wireless service charge. And it will put into action the plan from December, whose reduction scale will be determined through the consultation with the related governmental departments.``

Because the profitability of the wireless service providers has improved since the discontinuance of the governmental subsidy, the government decided to cut down on the service charge after reviewing the wireless service charge system.

The customers have demanded the reduction of both basic rate and the calls rate because one and a half year passed since the service charge was adjusted in April last year. On the other hand, the wireless service providers, however, have maintained that it would be hard to reduce the service charge.

The wireless internet service adopted the charge system based on data use quantity, not the use time. The Ministry of Information and Communication introduced this system in order to boost the wireless internet service use. Currently, the domestic wireless internet service providers run the package program, which charges 6.5 won per 512 bytes for letter service and 2.5 won for multimedia service.

freewill@donga.com