All three mobile service carriers are launching walkie-talkie services, drawing attention to the backgrounds of the new services. According to industrial sources on Nov. 11, following LG U+ and KT, SK Telecom is planning to launch the “Push to Talk” service which enables people to use their smartphones like walkie-talkies by installing an application late in Nov.
The LTE walkie-talkie service was first launched by LG U+ in January under the name of “U+ LTE Walkie-Talkie.” As this service open to customers of LG U+’s competitors has gained popularity, with 300,000 customers signing up for the service up to the present, KT debuted a similar service, “Olleh Walkie-Talkie.” SK Telecom also followed suit.
The mobile telecommunication industry explained that this service was launched to give more benefits to customers, since this service through which people can talk to dozens of people in a chatting room comes in handy for outdoor activities such as mountain climbing and exercises and offers extraordinary fun to customers.
But analysts say that such services are intended to lead customers to use more data. This is because customers need to run walkie-talkie applications to use this service, and this service uses about 0.5 MB per minute.
“The Kakao Talk service uses 0.01 MB per text sent,” said a representative at the telecommunication industry. “Compared to it, the walkie-talkie service does not consume a small amount of data.”
“The walkie-talkie service does not consume as much data as video services. But it is highly likely that many people will use this service in groups for a long time,” he added. “You will know that it is a smart service for mobile service carriers if you understand the meaning of the proverb ‘light gains make heavy purses.’”