KT and SK Telecom both share close to 90 percent of the telephone industry. Its customers are reaching 20 million. While KT is on a move to combine its wire telephony and broadband offerings with KTF, SK Telecom is going to include various telecom applications around its mobile services. In contrast to dominant companies' successful business, telephone rates have not been bringing good news for customers.

Customers are satisfied with slim phones, good sound quality and reception. Now it is about time for them to be happy with telecom rates. The government takes action to decrease the rates by providing package services.

The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) said that the ministry will let carriers such as KT and SK Telecom bundle fixed-line or wireless voice with the Internet at lower prices in July. Minister Rho Jun-hyong stated that such policy was set "to satisfy consumers" and gave a 10 percent discount as the rough figure. "Even if the rates are higher than 10 percent, we may give the confirm as long as it shows its impact," he said.

Small outfits excluding KT and SK Telecom so far have been permitted to offer such bundled services at discounted prices, a policy aimed to dilute the dominance of large players.

"We know the new policy may cause concerns that KT and SK Telecom will entrench their already-strong footing. We will come up with measures to ensure fair competition," Minister Rho continued, "For instance, KT and SK Telecom will be required to enable rivals to employ the services of the two firms so that they can provide similar package services."

In addition to the decrease in rate, the ministry seeks to phase in the number portability system between fixed-line telephone and Internet phone services next year. The number portability format will enable landline telephone calls to bounce to Internet-enabled phones without having to change the landline phone number.