 A model shows a "smart phone" recently released by LG Electronics. Their increasing popularity is now forcing telecommunications companies to address user demand for Wi-Fi access. / Korea Times |
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Mobile telephony carriers here had considered Wi-Fi more as a threat than an opportunity, even blocking handset vendors from including the wireless broadband functions on their devices over worries of losing data traffic and voice minutes.
However, with the rising popularity of the Apple iPhone and other data-enabled devices, the carriers are now moving to address the growing demand for Wi-Fi, apparently the favored technology over cellular access for data roaming.
SK Telecom, the country's biggest wireless carrier, which has a 50 percent market share here, had been slammed by mobile users for years for forcing Korean handset vendors Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics to exclude Wi-Fi from phones offered to its subscribers.
SK Telecom is now considering new ways to incorporate Wi-Fi access further into its service plans.
SK Telecom hadn't touched Wi-Fi zones in years, but a shift in business strategies may have the company spending more to install access points (APs) around the country from next year, company sources say.
SK Broadband, SK Telecom's fixed-line telephony and broadband Internet affiliate, had bailed from the Wi-Fi business in 2002 after being crushed by KT, the country's biggest telephone company and Internet provider.
Expanding its Wi-Fi offerings could prove to be critical for SK Telecom, as it tries to sell more hybrid devices accessing both Wi-Fi and cellular networks, which it hopes will help cement the mobile phone as a replacement for the traditional fixed-line phone service.
In what is considered a direct attack on KT, SK Telecom is currently promoting a new type of service called fixed-line substitution (FMS), which enables users to pick certain service areas where mobile calls will be provided at similar rates to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services. The company plans to expand its lineup of Wi-Fi-enabled handsets to provide a wider range of data services to its FMS customers.
"We aren't ready to talk about specific strategies or the size of investment regarding our level of Wi-Fi offerings and network. However, it is obvious that there is a need for stronger investment in our Wi-Fi network to improve its efficiency," said an SK Telecom spokesman.
KT, the No. 2 mobile telephony carrier, is also using Wi-Fi as a weapon against SK Telecom. The company is pushing a new service called fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), an Internet telephony service that allows users to switch between fixed-lines and mobile networks using a single handset.
By using Wi-Fi-enabled handsets, KT customers can use fixed-line networks when making calls at home or in the office, while accessing wireless networks on the move.
KT's 13,000 Wi-Fi "hot zones" around the country currently account for most of the Wi-Fi APs in the nation. The company plans to expand its Wi-Fi zones to 50,000 or 60,000 by the end of next year, marking its first major expansion since 2005, to make its smartphones more enticing.
KT markets the iPhone 3GS, which has been flying off shelves since its Nov. 30 release, and also plans to further expand its smartphone lineup next year.
The demand for Wi-Fi access has been growing at a time when a broader range of digital devices, beyond phones and laptop computers, are being designed to have networking capability.
Samsung and Interpark (www.interpark.com), an online retail site, says that Wi-Fi connectivity will be a key feature in the e-book readers they plan to release next year.
Samsung's recently released digital camera, Blue ST1000, was also equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing users to wire images to phones or navigation devices.
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
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