LG TELECOM PLANS TO OFFER WALKIE-TALKIE SERVICE NEXT YEAR.

SEOUL, Dec 1 Asia Pulse - Hoping to find new customers in South Korea's hyper-competitive wireless market, LG Telecom Co. (KOSDAQ:32640), the smallest mobile phone operator, is moving ahead with the introduction of a walkie-talkie service by June of next year.

The two-way radio communication phone, commercially known as "push-to-talk" service, enables users to directly chat with each other by pushing a button on their handset instead of dialing.

"Technically, we have no difficulties in offering the walkie-talkie service. Handsets for the push-to-talk feature will be debut in line with our roll-out," Kang Moon-seok, executive vice president of LG Telecom, said.

LG Telecom, the wireless unit of LG Group, the country's second-largest business conglomerate, is planning to deliver the push-to-talk calls over its data network.

The move is aimed at avoiding a potential cannibalization of its voice revenue as existing cell phone users migrate to the new service.

However, analysts are not assured about the uptake in LG Telecom's push-to-talk drive, mainly because of its small customer base in the country's saturated wireless market.

As of the end of October, LG Telecom has 4.7 million customers, compared with SK Telecom's 18 million and KTF's 10.5 million.