WiBro enjoys renaissance

KT’s “Egg” converts WiBro into Wi-Fi. / Korea Times

By Yoon Ja-young

When SK Telecom and LG Uplus announced the launch of commercial long-term evolution (LTE) services this month, it seemed like a death notice for KT’s WiBro. The fear turned out to be groundless. WiBro, which once lost its foothold in the market, seems to be having a renaissance in the era of fourth generation (4G) telecommunications.

“Egg” selling well

According to KT, the sales of the “Egg,” or its router for WiBro, recorded 27,600 last month. This compares with earlier this year when monthly sales stood below 5,000. Egg is a wireless Internet repeater, which transforms WiBro signal into Wi-Fi, or wireless LAN. The user can set up a Wi-Fi zone anywhere, anytime with the Egg. It is also convenient as up to seven devices, ranging from smartphones and tablets to laptops, can connect to the Internet.

The number of KT’s WiBro service subscribers totaled 474,000 as of the end of June, up 30,000 from the previous month. The sudden boom of WiBro was not expected by KT.

WiBro vs. LTE

Both LTE and WiBro are 4G technologies, but they are different in origin. European mobile carriers led the development of LTE, which was named so as it is an evolution from 3G technology. It has become mainstream as major mobile carriers around the world, including Verizon, AT&T, Vodafone and NTT Docomo have selected LTE as their standard 4G technology.

WiBro, short for Wireless Broadband, is a local version of Mobile WiMax. Korea has big stakes in WiBro technology. The country’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, along with KT and Samsung Electronics, led the development of the technology, and Korea saw the first commercialization of the technology in 2006.

The country, which saw its local manufacturers having to pay huge royalties to Qualcomm for the 2G code division multiple access (CDMA) technology, bet on WiBro, but the outlook wasn’t very positive. It competed with LTE to be the standard 4G technology, but global major carriers, as well as SK Telecom and LG Uplus, chose LTE.

WiBro looks into niche

KT owes the WiBro boom to aggressive 4G marketing by rival mobile carriers SK Telecom and LG Uplus. They launched the LTE service early this month, and have been pouring in money to promote the opening of the “4G era.”

People came to pay attention to the new generation of 4G technology but LTE services are currently only available in Seoul and the metropolitan area. Both SK Telecom and LG Uplus are rushing to complete nationwide networks, but it will be as late as next year. Plus, there won’t be an LTE smartphone on the local market until September.

WiBro, meanwhile, has a nationwide network covering 85 percent of the population. WiBro users can enjoy Wi-Fi wireless Internet in 82 cities and on 8 major highways around the country. WiBro smartphones and tablets _ HTC’s EVO 4G+ and Flyer 4G _ are also available. “Our customers can see the 4G network in their hands, with EVO 4G+ and Flyer 4G,” said a representative for KT. He added that KT will be aggressive in 4G marketing, making it competitive in network, handset and rates.

Hence, those who can’t wait until complete setup of an LTE services are choosing WiBro instead. KT is accelerating WiBro marketing, offering a WiBro service package at a competitive price. Those subscribing to KT smartphones can use the WiBro 3G service at 10,000 won a month, about one third the rate of the LTE service.

Some expect the WiBro boom to be temporary. WiBro offers 40 Mbps in download speed, while LTE pulls it up to 75 Mbps. As major carriers around the world choose LTE, there will be more diverse handsets available. However, few people expect WiBro to disappear, as data traffic is likely to be too much for LTE services to handle alone. WiBro will have to bear part of the load.

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