Panel details mobile numbers

The Korea Communications Commission announced yesterday final plans for the new number system that will be used for third generation mobile services. The new operation will use 11 digit numbers, which will start with the same 010 prefix, the agency, under the Ministry of Information, and Communication, said. After the prefix, all numbers will start with 2, and for the fifth number, LG TeleCom Co., the smallest player in the industry, will use 1, whereas SK Telecom Co., the largest mobile service carrier, will use 0. KTF Co., the second largest, will use 9. LG TeleCom was given priority in choosing the fifth number, which will distinguish carriers. LG will offer services based on IMT-2000, a technology standard in America; the two other competitors will provide services based on European technology, the agency said. The three mobile service carriers currently provide five prefixes for mobile subscribers. SK Telecom serves prefixes 011 and 017. KTF has 018 and 016. LG TeleCom serves 019. Following complaints by latecomers to the industry that allowing subscribers to distinguish service providers by the prefixes amounted to unfair competition in the telecommunications market, the government decided to converge the five prefixes into one, 010. In the first phase of the switch-over, the prefix 010 will be introduced to the market in June this year. KTF will be the first company to provide the prefix in the market for new subscribers to its third generation mobile services, which are characterized by high speed wireless Internet connections that enable users to enjoy quality video files. Starting in 2004, subscribers will be given new numbers with the 010 prefix if they switch providers or ask to change their numbers. Before the end of 2007, the 011, 016, 017, 018 and 019 prefixes will be replaced with 010. by Kim Hyo-jin