The launch of the new voice communications has been highly anticipated by its 36 million Korean users after it was rolled out internationally last month.
Unfortunately, the service is still in trials and only available on Apple iOS devices at the moment, with plans to fully expand to Android phones.
The release marks an important step for the mobile developer as there has been growing demand for internet-based free voice calls despite serious opposition from wireless carriers.
Lee Soo-jin, Team Leader of Kakao Communications said, “A free instant messenger program that supports voice chat functions is a global trend. We concluded that we risked losing users if we didn‘t have a voice chat function. As a result, that’s why the voice chat feature was added.”
In a country where unlimited data plans are becoming ubiquitous, major Korean cell phone carriers are worried that Kakotalk‘s free texting and calling service may unfairly compete against their own paid services. Without the ability to charge for calls and individual texts, carriers stand to lose hundreds of billions of won in sales and engaged in an unfair competition.
It remains uncertain if the Korean government will intervene with new regulations or if cell phone operators will be able to restructure its aging business model in one of the world’s most connected countries.
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reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com