Mobile sales to hit KRW20 trillion by 2009

According to a report by market researchers IDC, the mobile phones sales and services market in South Korea is expected to generate around KRW20 trillion (USD19.8 billion) by 2009. Although the voice calls market is nearing saturation, the sector is still expected to grow at around 3.4% a year to KRW14.2 trillion in 2009, while sales of non-voice services such as SMS and music downloading are expected to rise by 18.3% per annum to KRW6 trillion. The number of mobile phone customers is expected to grow to 37.65 million by the end of 2005, and 40 million by 2009.