By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Is WiBro, the Korean version of mobile WiMax, the future of broadband Internet services or the next famous high-tech industry bust?
Arriving on the scene with tremendous anticipation two years ago, WiBro, an abbreviation for ``wireless broadband," a technology designed to deliver high-speed Internet to users on the move, has yet to show signs of living up to its pre-launch hype.
However, with the Korean Communications Commission (KCC), the country's broadband and telecommunications regulator, deciding to allow WiBro to support telephony, the portable Internet service could be getting the injection of energy it so desperately needed.
In its policy report to President Lee Myung-bak last week, the KCC said it is planning to allow voice calls on WiBro networks and assigning call numbers to WiBro-enabled devices.
The regulator is also considering granting a license to a company to voice calls over WiBro as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), leasing the networks of KT and SK Telecom.
``Allowing voice calls and assigning phone numbers to WiBro terminals seems to be the best idea yet to foster the market for WiBro,'' said Jung Han-gun, an official from KCC's policy bureau.
``This would also renew competition in the wireless telephony market and could induce carriers to lower their rates over price competition,'' he said.
It remains to be seen whether voice over WiBro would have a significant impact in reshaping the country's wireless industry.
Considering the country's nearly saturated wireless market, it's questionable whether any company will be willing to spend lavishly to build a communication network when the room for growth is so small. Coverage and voice quality could also be an issue for mobile-phone users, who wouldn't be too pleased about compromised voice quality in areas around high-buildings and other hard-to-penetrate districts.
However, voice over WiBro is already creating a buzz, with cable television operators declaring their interest. In the age of convergence, and with broadband carriers threatening to take away a chunk of their customers through Internet protocol television (IPTV), cable television operators have been mulling ways to advance into the telecommunications market.
Gathering telephone customers through WiBro is certainly something to think about.
``Delivering quadruple play services that package broadband Internet, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), cable television services and wireless services is something to think about," said Yoo Se-joon, president of the Korean Cable TV Association.
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 passionate 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.
KT would surely have mixed feelings over the delivery of telephony over WiBro. Allowing voice calls would surely make WiBro more attractive to 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.