Public Payphones Slowly Disappear

Payphone service operators in Korea are struggling with diminishing sales caused by the widely available mobile phone. Back in 1999 Korea had 274,000 private payphones around the country, this number has dropped to around 136,000 in 2003.

KISIDI did a survey of 2,600 people regarding the availability of a public payphone service, 61 percent answered that the service is still necessary, 18 percent said to can them.

“These days, you will hardly ever see a long queue standing before street phone booths. Since the late 1990s, public phones have swiftly given way to mobile phones,” said Kwon Ki-hwan, a senior researcher of KISDI.

Read more from the ="_ext">source.