Noise From Phone Can Chase Mosquitoes

THANK YOU! Korea now officially kicks butt!

South Korea’s largest mobile phone operator said Thursday that it will offer cell phone users a new noise service that it says will repel mosquitoes.

SK Telecom Co. said subscribers can pay 3,000 won (US$2.50) to download a sound wave that is inaudible to human ears but annoys mosquitoes within a range of three feet. Customers can then play the sound by hitting a few buttons on their mobile phones.

The company claimed that the service worked during tests.

The service, which begins Monday, has one drawback: it consumes as much battery power as normal cell phone rings.

SK Telecom has 17 million subscribers and controls a little over 50 percent of the domestic market.