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LG Telecom Offers Mobile Phone GPS Service

20th September, 2004

ASIA : LG Telecom Co., Korea's No. 3 mobile-phone operator, introduced an auto navigation service today that provides information on nearby traffic, businesses and restaurants to drivers via their handsets.

The global positioning system-based service, named "ez Drive," will enable customers to find the fastest route to their destinations and provide traffic updates by voice and maps displayed on their mobile phones.

LG Telecom said it is also working to connect the navigation services with location-based data on fueling stations, restaurants, public facilities and other venues.

The company will charge a monthly rate of 6,000 won for the ez Drive services and an additional 2,000 won for a traffic-warning system that alerts drivers to roads where accidents frequently occur.

Subscribers must purchase a GPS receiver for the services, which LG Telecom plans to sell for 95,700 won.

The traffic update services will be initially available in Seoul and Busan and the Gyeonggi Province cities of Incheon, Ilsan and Osan. The company plans to soon expand the service nationwide.

"Our car navigation product has the advantage in price competition compared to those of our rival companies. It costs around only 100 won for our customers in packet rates when using our data services moving from Seoul to Busan. It costs around 1,000 won for customers using services of our rival carriers," said Bae Sung-chul of LG Telecom's mobile data business team.

"We will continue to develop other practical data applications for drivers," he added.

LG Telecom is the country's third largest mobile carrier behind market leader SK Telecom Co. and No. 2 carrier KT Freetel Co., and controls 15.7 percent of the domestic market. The company reported 2.2 trillion won in revenue and 78.8 billion won in net income for 2003.

SK Telecom was the first carrier to provide auto navigation services in 2002 with their "Nate Drive," and currently has more than 100,000 customers. SK Telecom recently agreed with U.S. chipset maker SiRF Technology Inc. to jointly develop GPS solutions aimed at reducing network-server costs associated with location-based services.

KT Freetel started their GPS service in June, allowing customers to monitor the location of their cars through the Internet and have text messages sent to their mobile phones if it is towed or stolen.

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