The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Song Joong-ki marries British woman, expects baby

  • 3

    Suicidal pedestrian saved over Han River bridge

  • 5

    Kim Jung-hyun returns to small screen with 'Kokdu: Season of Deity'

  • 7

    Youth, foreign drug offenders increase threefold in 5 years

  • 9

    NK rejects alleged arms trading with Russia, warns of 'undesirable result'

  • 11

    'Someday or One Day' cast says film spin-off has new plot

  • 13

    Seoul International School celebrates 50th anniversary

  • 15

    Base taxi fare to rise by 1,000 won to 4,800 won next month

  • 17

    Koreans reluctant to unmask on first day of eased indoor mask rule

  • 19

    3 dead, 4 hurt in upmarket Los Angeles neighborhood

  • 2

    Japanese teen romance film attracts 1 mil. Korean viewers for 1st time in 21 yrs

  • 4

    Korea to lift indoor mask mandate Monday

  • 6

    US four-star general warns of war with China in 2025

  • 8

    INTERVIEWBusan has potential to be world-class city, says mayor

  • 10

    Samsung to introduce low-carbon diet for employees to help tackle climate change

  • 12

    K-pop releases for February

  • 14

    Plum trees, pheasants and promises of old Korea

  • 16

    Main opposition leader faces pressure to resign in case of indictment

  • 18

    S. Korea mistakenly fires machine gun near border with N. Korea

  • 20

    NATO chief calls for stronger security ties with S. Korea to counter China

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
Tue, January 31, 2023 | 05:52
Tech
Will WiBro Sizzle or Fizzle?
Posted : 2008-08-04 19:13
Updated : 2008-08-04 19:13
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
Lack of Demand, Market Competition Mean Slow Growth for Wireless Broadband

By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter

WiBro, the Korean version of mobile WiMax, arrived on the scene with tremendous anticipation two years ago, with pundits calling it the ideal love-child from the country's advanced wireless and broadband infrastructures.

It has yet to be determined whether the technology, designed to deliver broadband speed to users on the move, is to sizzle or fizzle.

However, with operators looking to expand coverage and the government considering easing regulations to allow the wireless broadband services to support telephony, WiBro may still have a chance to deliver on its pre-launch hype.

The country's two biggest telecommunications heavyweights, fixed-line king KT and wireless leader SK Telecom, are currently gathering customers for WiBro, although the mobile-phone operator is less enthusiastic as it would rather have customers use the more expensive data services provided on its third-generation (3G) handsets.

KT, which controls more than 90 percent of the fixed-line telephony market and about 44 percent of the broadband sector, had gathered about 206,000 customers for WiBro by the end of June, while SK Telecom's presence is comparatively miniscule with around 2,000 subscribers.

Although the numbers are more than double the 100,000-plus WiBro subscribers at the end of last year, they still don't come close to the government ambitions to have 8 million subscribers by 2010.

WiBro provides broadband connectivity in vehicles moving at speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour. However, in a country with one of the world's largest broadband penetration rates and ubiquitous computer terminals, finding customers willing to pay extra for a few minutes of high-speed Internet on buses and subways is proving to be difficult.

And with SK Telecom's WiBro commitment going less than half way, an ``Exhibit A" for doing things just because your rival does, the market has not seen the type of competition that brings growth.

``It's hard to call 200,000 subscribers a disappointment in a land where everybody has a broadband connection at the office and home,'' said a KT official.

``It's true that we need to get more creative in gathering customers, expanding applications and delivering services to more devices'' he said.

KT could have a larger customer pool by the end of the year when it will expand it's WiBro coverage. Currently, it is providing full coverage only in Seoul and Seongnam, although limited coverage is provided in the metropolitan cities of Busan, Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju and Ulsan and 19 other towns in Gyeonggi Province.

The company is also expected to introduce an advanced WiBro service, dubbed ``WiBro Wave 2,'' in Seoul and the neighboring metropolitan area by the end of the year. The new version is designed to double the speed of the current WiBro services that provide an average download speed of 3 megabytes per second (mbps).

Can VoIP Become Killer Content?

The slower-than-expected acceptance of WiBro has businessmen and policymakers gasping for explanations and desperate for new ideas to foster growth.

One of the suggestions is to allow Internet telephony, or voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), on WiBro-enabled devices.

The KCC, the country's telecommunications and broadcasting regulator, has recently hired the Korea Information Society Development (KISDI) to produce a report on the long-term effects on the telecom market if voice is allowed on WiBro and subscribers are allocated their own call numbers.

This indicates a departure from the previous policy of the communication ministry, which disallowed VoIP on WiBro over fears of angering wireless operators like SK Telecom.

The KCC is also considering granting a license to a company to provide VoIP calls over WiBro as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), leasing the networks of KT and SK Telecom, by the end of the year.

Voice over WiBro already seems to be an attractive concept for organizations and businesses hoping to optimize their communication networks while cutting down on costs.

The Catholic Medical Center recently said it will rebuild its in-house communication system around WiBro and plans to provide VoIP through instant messaging systems.

However, the plan to allow telephony over WiBro is being met with strong resistance from mobile-phone operators, who shudder at the thought of customers downloading VoIP programs on their WiBro devices for cheaper wireless calls.

KT, on the other hand, would surely have mixed feelings over the delivery of VoIP on WiBro. Allowing voice calls would surely make WiBro more attractive with customers. But with KT looking to complete its merger with its wireless affiliate KTF, the country's No. 2 mobile-phone carrier that is barely holding a lead over SK Telecom in 3G customers, the calculations become complicated.

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
 
Top 10 Stories
1Koreans reluctant to unmask on first day of eased indoor mask rule Koreans reluctant to unmask on first day of eased indoor mask rule
2[ANALYSIS] Pandemic awakens demand for data-driven automation ANALYSISPandemic awakens demand for data-driven automation
3Over 76% of South Koreans support development of nuclear weaponsOver 76% of South Koreans support development of nuclear weapons
4Busan seeks to take lead in expo race after BIE's April visit Busan seeks to take lead in expo race after BIE's April visit
5Retailers seek to bolster beauty product sales as lifting of mask mandate approaches Retailers seek to bolster beauty product sales as lifting of mask mandate approaches
6Biohealth geared for growth Biohealth geared for growth
7Stock-leveraged investments rise again amid bullish KOSPI Stock-leveraged investments rise again amid bullish KOSPI
8Korea-US defense talks likely to bring up extended deterrence Korea-US defense talks likely to bring up extended deterrence
9Seoul mayor accuses liberals of leading nation in wrong direction Seoul mayor accuses liberals of leading nation in wrong direction
10NK slams NATO chief's Seoul visit as 'prelude to war'NK slams NATO chief's Seoul visit as 'prelude to war'
Top 5 Entertainment News
1Song Joong-ki marries British woman, expects babySong Joong-ki marries British woman, expects baby
2Kim Jung-hyun returns to small screen with 'Kokdu: Season of Deity' Kim Jung-hyun returns to small screen with 'Kokdu: Season of Deity'
3'Someday or One Day' cast says film spin-off has new plot 'Someday or One Day' cast says film spin-off has new plot
4K-pop releases for February K-pop releases for February
5Itaewon music fest brings love to the healing process Itaewon music fest brings love to the healing process
DARKROOM
  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

  • World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

    World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group