[January 08, 2009] KOREAN MOBILE CARRIERS TO PROVIDE UNIVERSAL INSTANT MESSENGERS Tweet SEOUL, Jan 09, 2009 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- Mobile carriers in South Korea are to provide universal instant messengers within the first half of the year, officials at one of the companies said Thursday. Mobile phone users, regardless of the telecom service they subscribe to, will be able to send and receive instant messages on mobile devices, said an official at KTF Co. (KSE:032390), South Korea's second largest telecom service provider. "Each mobile carrier is currently offering an instant messenger available only within its own network," said Lee Hyun-duk, a PR official at the company. "The companies are now working on interlocking the instant messaging services." Lee said that the exact date for the service launch is not set and is expected to be in the first half of 2009. South Korea's mobile market is shared by three mobile operators -- SK Telecom Co. (KSE:017670), KTF Co. and LG Telecom Ltd (KSE:032640). SK Telecom, the country's leading telecom service provider, stands at 51 per cent in terms of market shares, followed by KTF with 32 per cent and LG Telecom with 18 per cent, according to the government data. (Yonhap) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]