Does KT CEO have Midas touch or sleight of hand?
By Kim Yoo-chul
After a stunning success that is upsetting the pecking order in the mobile business industry on the basis of iPhone popularity, KT CEO Lee Suk-chae is expanding to another field of growth ― wireless data service.
This time, his foreign partner is Intel.
Lee’s effort is so far guiding the mobile business in Korea in a new direction in less than a year with new vision.
KT is at full speed to utilize its broadband infrastructure amid an explosive growth in wireless data spurred by the so-called ``smartphone fever.’’
Thanks to help from Intel, KT may feel somewhat relaxed to hedge the investment risk for WiBro or wireless broadband and to boost business efficiency.
The KT Chairman Lee believes WiBro is a ``persuasive answer’’ to better handle higher wireless data traffic rather than shift to the next-generation telecom technology called long-term evolution (LTE).
On Thursday, Intel Capital _ Intel’s global investment body ― said it has invested $20 million in Wibro Infra ― a joint venture with KT, Samsung Electronics and Kookmin Bank Investment.
As expected, KT’s Lee said the investment will help step up wireless services in South Korea, which is seeing big growth in multifunctional devices such as table-style PCs and phones.
``Intel Capital’s investment strengthens our WiMAX efforts in the Asia Pacific region, arguably the fastest-growing wireless broadband area, and specifically KT is positive to get more WiBro users as the coverage was expanding outside the Seoul metropolitan areas. The number of WiBro customers was stalling with some 300,000 users, though the service was introduced in 2006.
But KT is planning to increase the number of WiBro-enabled cities to 84 across the country by the end of March, next year.
As for another ``symbolic gesture’’ in the WiBro front, Intel said that it is planning to launch nine sets of laptops and net-books embedded with its mobile chipsets that provide WiBro network service.
From next month, South Korean customers will buy Intel chip-embedded such digital devices from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Acer.
Officials say these variables enhance portability as they actually don’t need for plug-in USB modems or wireless pocket routers.
To water down market worries over limited WiBro growth in South Korea due to selected usage limited to handheld devices, KT’s president Pyo Hyun-myung said it is planning to introduce tablet PCs with 3G-based and telecom functionshelps KT expand their offerings in Korea,’’ Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and Intel executive vice president, said in a joint statement from KT and Intel.
WiBro, better known as mobile WiMAX, makes wireless high-speed data transmission services on mobile gadgets possible. KT’s rival SK Telecom is still claiming the need for an early adoption of LTE services for mobile convergence era.
In a news conference held in downtown Seoul, the KT chairman said it is planning to invest more for WiBro services by teaming up with other strategic partners to expand its WiBro coverage further into rural areas.
``We need LTE and WiBro especially in South Korea, where the usage for wireless Internet has been on a higher level. Amid the mobile convergence era, KT needs to utilize our assets to respond to the new trend,’’ Lee told reporters.
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