SK Telecom has launched an app-based service enabling free voice calls between Korea and 168 countries.

To benefit from the free voice call service, SK Telecom users are required to subscribe to the company’s new data roaming plan and download an app, dubbed “T Phone”.

Calls to Korea from foreign countries will be free and if the roaming subscriber uses only the T Phone, international calls to and from Korea and local calls in foreign countries will be free. The other party on the phone does not always have to use the T Phone or subscribe to SK Telecom.

Calls to a third-party country will not be free because of costs from connection with an overseas carrier, but this case represents a fraction of all roaming scenarios, SK Telecom said.

Users, however, will have to pay separately for the data used during a call.

The new service is basically based on mobile VoIP (mVoIP) which is an extension of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to enable free voice calls on chat apps like KakaoTalk or LINE, but an overseas carrier’s data network is engaged for SK Telecom’s free roaming.

By Lee Yong-ik and Minu Kim

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]