This photo provided by KT Powertel Co. shows the company’s vehicle management service.
SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Mobile phone-based vehicle management services that enable users to enjoy Wi-Fi inside vehicles and provide them with various information, including vehicle location and driving route, are enjoying rising popularity with the number of subscribers growing at a steady pace, data showed Sunday.
The number of subscribers for such services had surpassed the 6 million mark as of the end of July, far higher than the combined number of subscribers for wearable device communication services such as tablet PCs (2.13 million) and smartwatches (1.08 million), according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.
About two-thirds of the mobile phone vehicle management service subscribers (roughly 4 million people), used mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), followed by SK Telecom at 1.5 million, KT at 268,000 and LG Uplus at 227,000.
Vehicle management services using wireless telecommunication enable subscribers to use Wi-Fi inside vehicles, offer information about the overall state of vehicles, and provide various information on vehicle location, driving course by time and details of driving operations.
The number of such subscribers remained low at 1.79 million in Dec. 2018. This figure, however, has since risen sharply, while the number of tablet and wearable device subscribers remained stagnant.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
