WiBro Gets Voice, but Who Cares?
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Despite the massive pre-launch hype, WiBro (wireless broadband), South Korea's homemade portable Internet standard, looks as overrated as the Matrix sequels and New Year's resolutions.
Now, the country's high-tech policymakers, grasping for explanations, are desperate to give the muted technology a voice, literally.
The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) Tuesday confirmed its plans to allow voice calls on WiBro-enabled devices and assign them phone numbers that start with the 010 prefix, which is used by all three of the country's mobile-phone carriers ― SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom.
The regulator claims that enabling voice calls over the mobile Internet network is the only viable solution for getting WiBro off life-support. However, if pressed to choose, telecommunications operators would rather prefer pulling the plug.
To provide voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services over the WiBro network, the carrier will be required to meet certain standards in voice quality and also secure the ability to handle emergency calls, KCC officials said.
``Since the calls will be based over wireless Internet networks, WiBro users could be provided voice services that are at least 30 percent cheaper than conventional mobile-phone services,'' said an official from the KCC's WiBro promotion division, who draws a rosy future for ``mobile VoIP.''
``Because of expensive mobile data rates, many people carry mobile phones and portable Internet devices separately. Voice-enabled WiBro could make things a lot more convenient, as the rates for WiBro are a lot more affordable than the data services currently provided by wireless carriers,'' he said.
Missed Calls
It's hard to doubt that voice-enabled WiBro would benefit consumers. The problem is that the country's two WiBro operators, KT and SK Telecom, lack enthusiasm for the idea.
KT, the country's biggest telephone company and Internet provider, spent more than 730 billion won (about $549 million) on its WiBro business since the commercial launching in 2006. SK Telecom, the mobile telephony king, invested 620 billion won during the same period.
However, the two companies combined have just 170,000 customers and a hair above 25 billion won in revenue for their WiBro services, making a mockery of government predictions of 1.4 million subscribers and 290 billion won in sales by 2008.
Allowing voice calls on WiBro devices would obviously make the technology attractive for consumers.
However, KT, which is close to completing the merger with its wireless unit, KTF, the country's second-largest mobile telephony operator, is obviously concerned about cannibalizing its wireless customer pool.
KT is considering a trial service for voice services on the WiBro network during the second-half of the year, with coverage limited to Seoul and the metropolitan area, and is refusing to make any promises beyond that.
SK Telecom draws the line more clearly. In a recent news conference, the company's chief executive, Jung Man-won, said the company has no plans to provide voice services over its WiBro network, citing the lack of ``business feasibility.''
``Considering the advances in the country's second-generation and third-generation networks, it makes little sense for the operators to begin a voice business on WiBro,'' said a SK Telecom official.
SK Telecom is planning to release its first WiBro handset in May, but voice will be directed to the company's third-generation (3G) network. The company doesn't have any plans to expand its WiBro service beyond Seoul and major Gyeonggi Province cities.
Betting on Wrong Technology?
WiBro is designed as a predecessor to mobile WiMAX, which is competing with Long Term Evolution (LTE) in the fourth-generation (4G) standards race.
The government has been promoting WiBro aggressively in the hope of allowing local companies to drive the standard and capture the benefits of homegrown intellectual property.
However, in a country that boasts one of the most advanced wireless networks in the world, WiBro looks like an answer that lacks a question.
WiBro's struggles certainly wouldn't bode well for WiMAX in its standards wars with LTE, and now the hands seem ready to bail.
SK Telecom, planning to start commercial services sometime after 2010, seems more focused on LTE, and KT is reluctant to improve on its current WiBro investments and quickly expand coverage.
Even Samsung Electronics, a major WiMAX backer, is hedging its bets, confirming its plans to develop LTE technologies last year.
``It's looking more and more likely that WiBro is destined to fizzle as a regional technology, not a part of a worldwide standard,'' said an industry official.