Korean payphones get RFID card readers
2008/02/25 21:06Korean Insight notes the installation of card readers on public payphones in Seoul to allow people to make calls using their RFID T-money public transit cards.
While KT Linkus has also talked about developing new payphones with the ability to send text messages or access the Internet, it's unlikely any of these changes will do much to help their business which also replies on government subsidies to operate.
Korea.Net covered the rapid usage drop of public payphones in a November 2006 article:
At that time, when fixed-line phones were not widely available in homes, pay phones had enjoyed popularity. The number of pay phones in service peaked at 500,000 nationwide in 1999, according to KT Linkus.
But pay phones started to lose their luster over the past years in the face of wider use of mobile communications, while store and shop owners also wanted the seldom used pay phone boxes to be removed because they blocked signboards or looked bad.
Their numbers declined sharply to 228,000 as of September this year, and the income from pay phones has likewise plunged. KT Linkus saw revenue of 641.1 billion won (US$682.7 million) from pay phones in 1999, but this fell to 85.8 billion won in 2005. This year's revenue shows no sign of improvement, it added.
Like the McDonald/SK Telecom's McRFID experiment, I suspect not many people will ever use this service.
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