Korea plans wireless spectrum auction
KT, SK Telecom confirm bids for 700MHz for 5G technology
By Kim Yoo-chul
BARCELONA, Spain ― Korea plans to increase government income by selling licenses in the 700MHz frequency band to Korea's top three mobile carriers and leading terrestrial broadcasters.
The Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country's telecom regulator, thinks an auction of spectrum in the band will help improve broadband services and give mobile companies the lead over their rivals for supremacy in the heated race for fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks.
"The KCC has to prepare an exit strategy as tension is unexpectedly high between terrestrial broadcasters and mobile carriers over the use of the 700MHz frequency band,” Chairman Choi Sung-joon said at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona last week.
“In the United States, for example, money that was saved from selling licenses is reinvested to create more content for broadcasting companies."
Korea’s move to auction the spectrum is in line with that of regulators in the United States and Europe.
Choi said that the frequency enabled the construction of networks with relatively fewer base stations, particularly in regions that previously had to do without fast Internet access.
"The U.S. is on track to collect money in return for using multimedia content,” he said. “KCC is closely monitoring this. Because the telecommunications industry is converging, mobile carriers should team up with broadcasters to share growth.”
Top management at Korea's main broadcasters, KBS, MBC and SBS, are lobbying lawmakers to pass a bill that gives them exclusive rights to the 700 MHz band. But mobile carriers are opposed to this.
"Telecom companies need to use more frequencies to respond to booming data traffic,” Choi said. “Securing more high-speed frequencies also means a better service from broadcasters with ultra high-definition (UHD) viewing quality. This is why the winner-takes-all principle shouldn't be implemented."
Burden on carriers, net neutrality
KCC officials said auction details would be finalized in the first half of the year. The auction is expected in the second half.
Officials at SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus said they were ready for the auction, but it would place them under more financial pressure.
"The auction will truly burden us,” a KT official said. “But we have no option but to participate so we can have more frequencies to fuel our fifth-generation wireless service."
An LG Uplus official said as LG's telecom unit was the smallest carrier in Korea, it hoped to receive some advantages from the auction.
An SK Telecom official said mobile carriers primarily used higher frequencies to cover urban and suburban areas where data traffic was high and substantial network capacity was required.
"The 5G structure must support multiple vertical industries and promote confidence in our corporate future, which is the key for investment,” the SK official said. “That will lower entry barriers for third-party developers as networks become more software-oriented."
Separately, Choi discussed network neutrality rules with Tom Wheeler, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The FCC recently voted 3-2 to approve net neutrality proposals, with Democrats outvoting Republican members on the commission.
The proposal called for a stricter set of rules that will treat broadband providers, including mobile operators, more like utilities.