it's always funny when i'm the one being quoted by my newspaper

Mobile Operators Frustrate Foreigners

By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter

Mobile-phone operators are gathering more foreign customers here, but that doesn't mean that getting handsets has become much less frustrating for tourists and expatriates, according to users who spoke with The Korea Times.

The companies said they are trying to improve services for foreigners, providing multi-language hotlines, English Web sites and diversifying their lineup of phones offered to non-Koreans. But despite the efforts, foreign users still insist that it is difficult to get a convenient monthly billing plan here.

``I used to have a pre-paid phone, and it was very annoying because I had to take it to the shop every month or so to buy more minutes … It was always a difficult trip, as the shops don't' normally have English speaking staff and I had to go back and back for the smallest of things,'' said Brian Colman, a Seoul-based American currently signed with SK Telecom.

``Now I have a monthly service plan, but foreigners without Korean bank accounts or credit cards should just forget about it. And it's frustrating that operators are slow to provide up-to-date information on service rates or discounts,'' he said.

SK Telecom, the country's biggest wireless carrier, said it had 290,387 subscribers to its pre-paid services for foreigners last year, offered to those who stay for 90 days or less, compared to the 250,000-plus in 2007 and around 215,000 in 2006.

The company's number of foreign subscribers on post-paid plans, available to those who stay for more than 90 days and have alien registration numbers, was 81,419 in 2008, up from around 72,900 in 2007 and 47,000 in 2006.

KTF, the country's second-largest mobile operator, said it had more than 143,000 foreign subscribers at the end of 2008, up from the 136,000-plus in 2007 and 91,700 in 2006.

About 50 percent of KTF's foreign subscribers are on pre-paid contracts, company officials said.

``Korea is becoming more integrated internationally in business and tourism, which means that more people are here on short-term stays or longer assignments … the growth in multiethnic families also has played a part in the increase of foreign users,'' a KTF official said, adding that pre-paid customers accounted for nearly 90 percent of the company's foreign subscribers as recently as 2006.

With the number of foreign subscribers rising, SK Telecom and KTF said they are making greater efforts to provide better information services to non-Korean speakers.

SK Telecom has a hotline (080-252-5011) for foreign customers, with English and Japanese speaking operators, and an English language Web site, www.tworld.co.kr/foreigner.

KTF also has a hotline (02-2190-1180) with operators who speak English, Japanese and Chinese. The center gets about 50 calls per day, KTF said, with questions about rates, monthly billing plans and contract terms accounting for most of the queries, KTF said.

However, the efforts don't come close to easing the experience for foreigners, who point out that getting a mobile-phone in Korea is still a more complicated process than in other country in Asia.

Cathy Garcia, a Philippine national and Korea Times cultural reporter, needed a Korean friend as a guarantor and a desposit of 200,000 won to sign up under SK Telecom.

She's since switched to LG Telecom, which provides an easier registration process and is the smallest local mobile-telephony carrier, but the company's limited choice of handsets, as well as its inability to provide global roaming services, frustrates her.

``I had to choose from just around five handsets, when Korean users are offered cheaper and better handsets. And it would be nice if operators provided information about discounts or other basic information in English,'' she said.

``I think the process of getting mobile services is more complicated here. In Manila, foreigners can just buy pre-paid cards off the streets.''

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr