South Korea May Make Text Messages Free to Curb Inflation
The Korea Communications Commission said it is considering making mobile-phone text messages free of charge to lower phone bills for consumers as the government strives to curb rising prices.
“We are having in-depth reviews on it,” Choi See Joong, chairman of South Korea’s telecommunication regulator, told lawmakers yesterday.
SK Telecom Co., South Korea’s largest mobile-phone operator, fell 1.9 percent to 156,000 won as of 11:38 a.m. in Seoul, while KT Corp. (030200) dropped 1.3 percent to 38,050 won.
The government has already pressed oil refiners to cut prices after inflation breached President Lee Myung Bak’s 3 percent target for the past seven months.
Consumer prices may increase 3.9 percent in 2011, faster than the previous estimate of 3.5 percent, the Bank of Korea said yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jun Yang in Seoul at jyang180@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net.
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