re opinions and more viewpoints in a wider scope. This broadens audience knowledge. CHAPTER 3:Present State of Telecommunications in KoreaAt present, Korea has 20 million lines with 17 million subscribers which adds up to 42.6 lines per 100 people. The number of cellular mobile phone subscribers amounts to 785,000 lines and paging service numbers reach almost 5.5 million (Apt 338). There are some 285,000 public payphones in the country and coin operated units are being replaced with cardphones.As a result, Korea now has one of the largest telecommunications networks in Asia and is the world's eight ranking nation in terms of the number of telephones installed.In 1984, Korea successfully developed the TDX-AA, a domestically developed digital electronic switching system, becoming the 10th nation to develop native switching system. Enhanced systems like the TDX-1B and TDX-10 followed shortly after. In particular, the TDX-10 system which has a capacity of 100,000 circuits and high interoperability, enabled the installation of a large quantity of telecommunication lines.Currently, Korea deploys about seven million lines with this TDX system, and exports this system to various countries. Now Direct Distance Dialing (DDD), long-distance service and international telephone services are available anywhere in the country, including rural and remote area.Other services currently available to Korea are E-mail, voice mail, electronic data interchange, on-line data retrieval and database processing, code and protocol change, and enhanced facsimile services.Presently, KTA is developing the HiTEL data communications retrieval service allowing information to be retrieved by personal computer or HiTEL terminal and facsimile machine for graphics, from various databases covering many subjects. Some 35,000 users are currently linked to this system. In 1993, KTA's HiNET-P service was expanded to become a national packet switching service offering a K...
