Korea to place $40 cap on teen mobiles

Teen mobile bill suicide caused changesCould this work in Australia? South Korea is trying to stop teenagers from ringing up massive mobile phone bills with new rules that preset a $40 limit a month .

Phone bill angst is rife in South Korea, where data from mobile service operators show that four out of five people own a handset and at least six out of ten school-age children have one.

A Telecommunications Ministry official said on Friday that from January, children will need parental permission to go above a preset limit, which can be up to 30,000 won ($40) a month.

Parents will also receive detailed information about the types of services their children subscribe to.

At present, parents can set a limit on how long children can talk on their mobiles, but all the kids have to do is ask the mobile provider to increase the limit.

In February, a teenaged South Korean boy killed himself after tallying a phone bill of 3.7 million won ($5,000).