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Demand especially among parents for mobile phones without a wireless Internet function is surging, but the service providers stand accused of failing to meet it. Lee Sung-young, a homemaker from Seoul’s Jamsil said, “My son in middle school used to play wireless Internet games on his mobile phone, and the bill for the games was over W120,000 (US$1=W923). I wanted to replace his phone with one without a wireless Internet feature, but it’s very inconvenient since that means changing the mobile service provider and there are few handsets available.
Only one provider, KTF, supplies handsets without wireless Internet function, and there are only two models. SK Telecom and LG Telecom offer no Internet-free phones since they want to maximize revenue.
A consumer group’s survey on mobile phone charges for juveniles and children shows they pay on average W38,414 a month, while the monthly average for all users is 38,226. Kim Hee-kyung, an organizer with the Seoul YMCA Citizen's Mediation Center, called on service providers to meet the demand.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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