[GLOBAL ECONOMIC TIMES]  The position of public phones is shrinking day by day. A public phone was once an essential life feature that was used while waiting in line. Now, it has been reduced to a miserable complex that is barely used by one person per day. In the end, KT, the sole operator, decided to merge its subsidiary in charge of public telephones into another one of its subsidiaries. It has been reported that supply and demand of manpower has not been easy as the internal staff has aged.

According to the telecommunications industry on the 29th, the process of merging KT's public telephone subsidiary, KT Linkus, into KT Service Nambu is underway.

KT Linkus is a subsidiary of KT that operates public phone maintenance and repairs, public phone booth space utilization, and customer/agency logistics business. The total number of employees is said to be about 250, and the average age is in the 50s.

The explanation is that this merger is an inevitable decision due to the aging workforce of KT Linkers. A KT official explained, “This is a measure to stabilize the business as most of the KT Linkers employees are nearing retirement,” adding, “All employees of KT Linkers are scheduled to be transferred to KT Service Nambu.”

As such, the public telephone business is in trouble as it is difficult to supply and demand personnel. There are no users, but it is a business that needs to be maintained. So the deficit is also large.

According to the Telecommunications Business Act, public telephones are defined as an essential service for citizens. Public telephones are a ‘universal service’ designated by the government, and KT is in charge of operation. The three mobile carriers are contributing some of the operating funds, but it is not enough.

This is because with the spread of mobile phones, there are no users looking for public phones. According to the office of Democratic Party lawmaker Han Min-soo, the average monthly number of uses per public phone is 30.8. The call volume was calculated to be 25.7 minutes. There is barely one user per day per public phone.

The number of public telephones nationwide is decreasing due to low usage rates. Last year, the number of public telephones installed nationwide decreased by more than half compared to 2018. The number of public telephones installed decreases every year: 59,162 in 2018, 46,790 in 2019, 39,230 in 2020, 35,658 in 2021, 28,858 in 2022, and 24,982 in 2023. there is.

Attempts are being made to expand the use of public phone booths in ‘Aemul Complex’, but even these are not successful. Although they are introducing various functions such as electric vehicle charging stations, battery stations for electric bikes, and ATM machines, they are not generating profitability.

Although efficiency has been improved by reducing the number of units installed, the deficit is still well over 10 billion won. According to KT's public phone profit report, KT's public phone business operating loss was 18.4 billion won in 2018, 16.8 billion won in 2019, 14 billion won in 2020, and 13.7 billion won in 2021. Although it is decreasing every year, the deficit remains over 10 billion won.

In the end, KT Linkers' operations were adjusted. It is interpreted as part of a recent large-scale organizational reorganization led by KT CEO Kim Young-seop.

CEO Kim decided to establish two new subsidiaries (KT OSP and KT P&M) and announced plans to realign the headquarters workforce of about 5,700 people along with voluntary retirement. It appears that the operations of subsidiaries are also being adjusted along with the reorganization of headquarters personnel.

Meanwhile, KT Service Nambu, which will absorb KT Linkus, is a subsidiary responsible for opening home phones and IPTV services in key areas such as Honam, Busan, Daegu, and Gangwon. It is known that the reason behind KT Service Nambu's merger with KT Linkus was the fact that public telephones operated on a nationwide basis and KT Service Nambu's operational nature, which covers a wide area, were consistent with the decision.

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