Mobile Service Plan

[Anchor Lead]

A new mobile service plan exclusively for soldiers has now become available, as soldiers will be able to use their mobile phones after their work is done. 33,000 won per month pays for unlimited numbers of voice calls and text messages, but some criticize that the plan is too expensive for soldiers.

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Starting April 1st, conscript soldiers will be able to use their mobile phones in the evening after their work is done. This program has been tested in some military bases since last April. Subsequently, the Ministry of National Defense along with the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning have come up with a mobile service plan exclusively for the servicemen.

[Soundbite] Choi Hyun-soo(Ministry of National Defense Spokesman) : "Soldiers will be able to use unlimited calls and texts for a reasonable price of around KRW 30,000."

All three mobile communication service providers set the monthly payment at 33,000 won. Voice calls and text messages are unlimited. Also, unlimited data at a slow speed of three megabytes per second is available after the daily allowance of two gigabytes is all used up. However, some argue, the monthly payment should be lowered, given that soldiers are allowed to use their mobile phones for only up to four hours on weekdays.

[Soundbite] Kim Ju-ho(People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy) : "They can't use that much data. I think it's more effective to lower the payment to KRW 20,000 even if the data allowance has to be reduced."

So a closer look reveals soldiers may not benefit that much from the mobile service plan designed exclusively for them.