By Kim Yoo-chul, Yoon Sung-won
Korea Telecom (KT) has formed a partnership with Samsung Electronics in an ambitious bid to win a government contract to build Public Safety Long-Term Evolution (PS-LTE) networks.
"It's strongly urged for KT to further cooperate with Samsung to win the network deal," says a KT internal memo, a copy of which The Korea Times obtained.
"Maintaining exclusive partnership with Samsung means that KT will have more room to win the deal from the government."
KT spokesman Park Chang-gyu said the No. 2 mobile carrier was teaming with Samsung in telecom-oriented business projects that it has identified as its next revenue sources. Samsung declined to comment.
Industry insiders believe the KT-Samsung alliance will threaten other network operators and telecom equipment makers, which have already submitted their proposals.
After the Sewol ferry disaster, in which a lack of interoperability between responding agencies hindered rescue efforts, the government decided to build a broadband network dedicated to PS using LTE technology to be deployed nationwide by 2017. The plan calls for 20 megahertz of designated spectrum in the 700 megahertz band.
With LTE technology rapidly becoming commoditized, the PS-LTE project, estimated to be worth more than 20 trillion won, has emerged as a project on which related companies cannot afford to miss out.
The KT-Samsung alliance is competing with Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia, SK Telecom, LG Uplus and Motorola. Nokia is also considered a strong chance to win the race thanks to its proven record in the global telecom network industry.
The Korean government is expected to favor local companies, with Samsung set to lobby senior government officials to win the deal on a turnkey basis — from manufacturing to maintenance.
"The KT-Samsung alliance is positioned well to win many parts of the contract as KT is the nation's dominant fixed-line operator and Samsung aims to grow its telecom-parts businesses, where it is still uncompetitive, rather than handsets and chips," said another KT official.
Observers say Samsung is expected to guarantee more jobs and to support local small and medium-enterprises (SMEs).
KT will hold a session of almost five hours to show its disaster protection technology to journalists, at its technology laboratory in Go yang, on the outskirt of Seoul, on April 15.
The network will be a private, dedicated one used by about 200,000 users from 324 mandatory agencies. These include police, fire, EMS, Coast Guard, military, provincial administrative offices, electricity, gas and the forest service.
Also, the emergency network will be always operational, rather than just during emergencies and will cover the country.
Korea Telecom (KT) has formed a partnership with Samsung Electronics in an ambitious bid to win a government contract to build Public Safety Long-Term Evolution (PS-LTE) networks.
"It's strongly urged for KT to further cooperate with Samsung to win the network deal," says a KT internal memo, a copy of which The Korea Times obtained.
"Maintaining exclusive partnership with Samsung means that KT will have more room to win the deal from the government."
KT spokesman Park Chang-gyu said the No. 2 mobile carrier was teaming with Samsung in telecom-oriented business projects that it has identified as its next revenue sources. Samsung declined to comment.
Industry insiders believe the KT-Samsung alliance will threaten other network operators and telecom equipment makers, which have already submitted their proposals.
After the Sewol ferry disaster, in which a lack of interoperability between responding agencies hindered rescue efforts, the government decided to build a broadband network dedicated to PS using LTE technology to be deployed nationwide by 2017. The plan calls for 20 megahertz of designated spectrum in the 700 megahertz band.
With LTE technology rapidly becoming commoditized, the PS-LTE project, estimated to be worth more than 20 trillion won, has emerged as a project on which related companies cannot afford to miss out.
The KT-Samsung alliance is competing with Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia, SK Telecom, LG Uplus and Motorola. Nokia is also considered a strong chance to win the race thanks to its proven record in the global telecom network industry.
The Korean government is expected to favor local companies, with Samsung set to lobby senior government officials to win the deal on a turnkey basis — from manufacturing to maintenance.
"The KT-Samsung alliance is positioned well to win many parts of the contract as KT is the nation's dominant fixed-line operator and Samsung aims to grow its telecom-parts businesses, where it is still uncompetitive, rather than handsets and chips," said another KT official.
Observers say Samsung is expected to guarantee more jobs and to support local small and medium-enterprises (SMEs).
KT will hold a session of almost five hours to show its disaster protection technology to journalists, at its technology laboratory in Go yang, on the outskirt of Seoul, on April 15.
The network will be a private, dedicated one used by about 200,000 users from 324 mandatory agencies. These include police, fire, EMS, Coast Guard, military, provincial administrative offices, electricity, gas and the forest service.
Also, the emergency network will be always operational, rather than just during emergencies and will cover the country.
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