Mobile phones change a lot over 20 years

Tag : Mobile Car
Mobile phones change a lot over 20 years Today marks the 20th anniversary of the introduction of mobilephones in Korea.
On July 1, 1988, the Korea Mobile Telecommunications Corp., laterrenamed SK Telecom, launched Advanced Mobile Phone Service ahead ofthe Seoul Olympics that took place in September that year.
It was the nation's first provider of what would become arapidly-growing service.
At the time, having a mobile phone was a symbol of wealth. Theprice of a handset was similar to that of a car, and only 0.1percent of the Korean population had the gadgets.
Now, two decades later, the nation's rate of wireless use hassurged to 92 percent, thanks to cheaper handsets and calling rates.
In 1988, a cellular phone cost 4 million won ($3,800), while PonyExcel, a sub-compact car produced by Hyundai Motor Co., cost 5million won.
Besides the prices of handsets, mobile call rates have sharplydropped over the past 20 years. Phone calls from Seoul to Busan forthree minutes cost 324 won in 2008, a quarter of the 1,286 won itwould have cost in 1988. Taking inflation into account, the currentrate for the same call is one-36th of that in 1988, according to SKTelecom.
In 1988, there were only 784 mobile phones. As of May 2008, 44.8million people, or 92.2 percent of the nation's population havehandsets.
The Korea Mobile Telecommunications Corp. was the sole provider ofmobile service until 1996, when Shinsegi Telecomm was launched. Inthe following year, three PCS companies, including KTF and LGTelecom, also jumped into the fray. Currently, there remain threeoperators -- SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom, which hold shares ofabout 55, 25 and 15 percent in the market, respectively.
In 2000, Korea was the first to commercialize CDMA, short for codedivision multiple access, the second-generation standard for mobilephone service. Korea is the first country to provide digitalmultimedia broadcasting service. In 1991, three companies,including Samsung Electronics entered the local handset market,which had been dominated by overseas companies such as U.S.-basedMotorola.
Korean firms have since rapidly grown in sales, producing 27percent of mobile phones in the world market.
Handset exports surged to $1.86 million in 2007, from $470,000 in1996, when Korea first shipped its handsets overseas.
The information and technology industry has also grownexponentially, with the sector achieving an average annual growthof 18 percent. Korea's IT industry is worth 248 trillion won,accounting for 29 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.
Using handsets, people are able to not only make calls but alsosurf the internet, watch movies, do their shopping and makefinancial transactions, among other things.
"Mobile phones play a role in not only driving economic growth, butalso enhancing convenience in daily lives," SK Telecom said througha press release.
By Jin Hyun-joo
(hjjin@heraldm.com)


2008.07.01