SK Telecom, the nation’s largest telecom operator, started selling mobile phones at fixed prices in its all on- and offline outlets nationwide Monday.

The government plans to implement the fair price initiative in the telecom industry from January, aiming to revolutionize its retail structure.

Thus far, vendors have lured customers with “free phones” explaining the normal benefits for long-term subscribers as special discount deals.

However, under the new system, they are required to offer their gadgets according to price tags as they are shown along with a price list depending on contract period.

“Customers accustomed to the free deal may feel the price has increased at first,” a SKT official said.

“But when the system settles down, customers would enjoy benefits as they can choose better and cheaper deals.”

Considering the existing promotional practices that have remained untouched for almost 20 years, the company will educate individual vendors for a grace period.

KT Corp., the second-largest market player, has also carried out a similar fair-price system since July and plans to adopt a new one based on the government guidelines.

Since the implementation of the system, the company said the price differences in individual outlets have been narrowed as customers show higher satisfaction.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)