KT urges gov't to push safety network deal

By Kim Yoo-chul

KT, the nation's dominant fixed-line operator, is seeking to win a government contract to build a nationwide long-term evolution (LTE) safety network.

“As this year our CEO Hwang Chang-gyu the second year in office, the safety network deal is the contract that we can't lose. Hwang is directly involved in,” said an executive, declining to be named.

He said that KT is closely cooperating with Samsung Electronics to raise its bid for the contract as Samsung has a relatively weak presence in the network equipment industry dominated by Nokia and Ericsson-LG.

“We urge the government to push for an earlier schedule. The safety network deal will help local carriers find new income sources as the local LTE wireless market is saturated. If telecom firms receive a good reference in the public safety network arena thanks to government support, then KT could export technology to other countries,” said the executive.

The ferry Sewol tragedy stressed the need for Korea to create a comprehensive communications network to deal with any future disasters. The sinking of the ferry exposed the lack of interoperability among responding agencies which hindered rescue efforts.

The government has allocated a frequency for the network and also decided to invest up to 1.7 trillion won as groundwork.

But it is hesitating to begin the project due to budget constraints. Officials say the project will be thoroughly reviewed.

They say involved agencies are in the process of finding out measures that are cost-effective such as a plan to use existing commercial LTE networks for disaster communications rather than building new networks.

KT is more aggressive than its two rivals _ LG Uplus and SK Telecom _ for the deal.

The government project has drawn keen interest from both domestic and international companies. China's Huawei and Alcatel-Lucent recently held an event to showcase their LTE technology, as did Ericsson-LG, which is collaborating with Nokia Networks and Motorola.

The United States and Canada also plan to build public safety networks.

“If the government speeds up signing a contract, then Korea's disaster LTE network could become a global standard,” according to the executive.