Mobile Internet Phone
Internet phones have become a must-have for students studying abroad, and are getting more and more popular among Koreans residing in foreign countries. Internet phones have become portable thanks to the tethering functions to use smartphones as WiFi.
In this situation, cable broadcasting company t-broad released the Smart Home Phone, a portable Internet phone, at the end of July. This phone can be used through WiFi at home and an LTE network outside. It works like a mobile Voice over Internet Protocol (mVoiP) outside, just like the voice talk feature of KakaoTalk.
Giving portable usability without restrictions, Internet phones are attacking the territory of mobile phones. This service is available when users subscribe to the Internet and Internet phone of t-broad and lease a smart AP. The price is only 4,000 won (US$3.86) without stipulations, or free with a three-year contract.
If subscribers download the “tplus zone” app from the Google Play store and register, they can make free phone calls to up to four people. Phone calls to more than four people are also very cheap, because the rates are based on Internet phone rates.
KT first released the first Internet phone last year, called the “Olleh Smart Home Phone,” and LG U+ also introduced “HomeBoy” in August last year. These two services are getting more popular as well, as more and more subscribers are using these services through smartphone tethering. However, these services are different from t-broad, as they focus more on using smart services at home, including streaming video and music.
While t-broad connects its Internet phone to LTE networks and makes it portable, KT and LG U+ do not. These two companies are worried the if average revenue-per-user (ARPU) of their own companies would drop due to the portable Internet phone.
On the basis of ten seconds, the rate of telecommunication service providing companies are 18 won per minute, but rates of the t-broad Internet phone are only 11.7 won per minute. The most attractive feature is that its Internet phone is portable not only in Korea but also overseas.