KT says no more to telegram service after 138 years

KT, a major telecommunications provider, will end its domestic telegram service in December, 138 years after its debut in the country.

KT will end its domestic telegram service in December, 138 years after its debut in the country. [YONHAP]

KT, a major telecommunications provider, will end its domestic telegram service in December, 138 years after its debut in the country.

KT posted a notice on its webpage on Nov. 2 that its 115 domestic telegram service is coming to an end on Dec. 15, according to industry insiders on Wednesday.

"Traffic has been falling drastically each year due to changes in the environment of the communications market," KT said. "The company will not provide the service any longer because of rising losses."

Earlier on April 8, 2018, KT, also the country's second biggest wireless carrier, put an end to its international telegram service.

KT did not disclose the number of its customers using telegrams, which was the quickest and most efficient way to communicate news across great distances in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Korea introduced the telegram service in 1885 with it first telegram being sent between Seoul and the western port of Incheon.

After the country's liberation from Japan's colonial rule, the Ministry of Communication and the Korea Telecom Authority, KT's predecessor, provided the telegram service.

Yet the number of domestic telegram users has been plunging in line with the spread of emails and mobile phones in the 1990s, with people using telegrams only for congratulatory messages or gifts.

Korea is not alone. The trend of telegram services coming to an end is worldwide. Britain ditched telegrams in 1982, the United States sent its last in 2006, and Germany terminated the service on Jan. 1.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]