SEOUL, KOREA – With the introduction of local number portability (LNP) for fixed lines, competition among telecoms operators has intensified. Now, customers can retain their fixed line numbers when they switch to other service providers. In fact, since it is extremely difficult for corporate customers to change their business numbers, latecomer telecoms operators rarely won a contract in the past. Yet, the introduction of LNP for fixed lines now has opened the floodgates to latecomers to compete in the market.
The Korean fixed-line telephone market, 80% of which has been controlled by KT, sees a growing number of customers switch to latecomer companies like LG U+ and SK Broadband. As the introduction of LNP for fixed lines has juiced up price competition, customers can delightedly trade down to lower-cost services with their numbers unchanged.
Meanwhile, telecoms operators try to enlarge their pool of fixed-line numbers since new corporate customers want to get a set of phone numbers that are arranged in a sequential order, instead of just random phone numbers.
Sean Chung (hbpark@etnews.com)
**Article provided by etnews [Korea IT News]
[Reference] : http://english.etnews.com/electronics/2715655_1303.html
