KT, the second-largest mobile carrier in Korea, announced Monday that it would provide its customers twice as many services as usual from July through October.

“In order to repay our customers for their support, we will provide double the amount of services,” said Pyo Hyun-myung, president of the mobile business unit at the mobile service provider, at the launching event of the promotion.

More data, more membership benefits and easier access to customer service are among the five major services provided to customers during the promotion period, according to the firm. 

For example, those who have an unlimited voice plan will receive double the amount of data; twice as many membership points will be given to mobile users who have used KT services at least for two years; and those who use the firm’s online music and video services called “Genie Pack” and “olleh TV Now Pack” get a 50 percent discount.

In addition, KT will begin a text message customer service starting Tuesday to more conveniently reach the customer service call center.

“Customers now have two channels: either making a phone call or sending a text message. The new customer service will help reduce waiting time,” said the firm in its press release.

These doubled services are chosen based on research on customers’ needs, the firm explained.

“Everything is changing fast, and so do the customer’s needs. After the promotion ends in October, KT will pick up momentum with new services reflecting new needs,” said president Pyo, adding the company will also release Web-based IPTV services this month.

KT expects that more than 10 million of its (current and new) users will be able to benefit from the event, which will be worth 177 billion won ($156 million) or 35,000 won per customer a month.

It is seen by market watchers that the latest move of the mobile carrier stoked up competition triggered by its rival SK Telecom, the largest mobile service provider, which launched the Long Term Evolution Advanced or LTE-A service last Wednesday for the first time in the world.

The LTE-A service offers speeds twice that of the existing LTE network and 10 times that of 3G services.

SK earlier said the service would be available in Seoul and 42 other major cities in Gyeonggi and Chungcheong Provinces, as well as at some 103 university campuses located in these regions.

With the maximum speed of 150 Mbps, the new technology allows users to download an 800 megabyte movie file in 43 seconds.

“We could not stand still when SK started providing the new LTE service even though the coverage of the service is limited,” said a KT marketing executive who participated in the launch event.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)