Korea plans to jolt WiBro into life

By Kim Tong-hyung

Korea vows to continue being the life of the wireless and broadband party in Asia, with its government announcing further investment for advancing mobile Internet technology and provide more high-speed wireless connections on the road.

In reporting its policy goals for 2011 to President Lee Myung-bak at Cheong Wa Dae on Friday, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country’s broadcasting and telecommunications regulator, unveiled a renewed commitment for WiBro, a homegrown portable Internet technology that is the local variant of mobile WiMAX.

The KCC will also push for the deregulation of the advertising market to provide a business foundation for the new cable television channels that will be licensed later this month, as well as jolting next-generation broadcasting services like Internet protocol television (IPTV).

Price competition in the mobile telephony market will be renewed with the introduction of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which lease capacity from telecommunications carriers to sell their own brands of mobile voice and data services, according to KCC officials.

``By developing new markets for advertisements and easing the regulations, we are planning to inject new growth into the sector that we hope will account for 1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of next year,’’ said Jo Gyeong-shik, an official from the KCC’s policy planning division.

The KCC will press telecommunications operators to expand WiBro’s coverage nationwide, and also begin building their networks for Long Term Evolution (LTE), which appears to be leading mobile WiMAX in the standard battle for fourth generation (4G) communications.

The country’s three mobile operators _ SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus _ could begin providing their first LTE services in Seoul and the neighboring metropolitan area as early as late next year, KCC said.

To support the increasing demand for mobile Internet connectivity, following the scorching sales of smartphones, tablet computers and other portable gadgets, the KCC also expected the carriers to expand the number of their Wi-Fi zones from a combined 66,000 this year to 165,000 in 2011.

Efforts by telecommunications firms, software developers and film and television studios to build a stronger content ecosystem for the mobile Internet devices will also have KCC’s backing.

The wireless carriers will be supporting a new applications platform by June, which will make it easier for developers to build and sell apps irrespective of mobile operating systems and technology.

The content platform will be interoperable with the mobile application store to be launched by the Wholesale Applications Community, an alliance of 24 of the world’s largest mobile-phone operators.

A bulked-up advertising market is a crucial part for the government’s aspirations to deregulate the media industry. By the end of this month, the KCC will complete the licensing of new ``comprehensive programming’’ cable channels, which will be allowed to produce and broadcast original news content as well as entertainment, sports and documentaries. New spots are also being opened for news-only cable channels to complement the existing ones of YTN and MBN.

As with other prospective 4G technologies, WiBro promises full mobile broadband access and had been touted to eventually beat both Wi-Fi and third-generation (3G) cellular networks.

In developing its own mobile WiMAX deviation in WiBro, the Korean government had aimed to drive the standard and allow local companies to benefit from homegrown intellectual property.

However, four years into its commercial services, which started in 2006, WiBro has yet to live up to its hype in Korea, with KT and SK Telecom combining for less than 600,000 subscribers, making a mockery of initial government predictions of passing the 1 million mark by 2008.

KT and SK Telecom had been slow to expand their WiBro coverage beyond Seoul and the metropolitan area due to murky business outlooks.