KT all set for IAAF Championships

Athletes, staff, visitors to experience best of telecom services

By Kim Yoo-chul

The 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu is expected to showcase KT’s telecom prowess.

Because the championships will bring a record number of athletes in competition — 1,945 athletes from 202 countries according to data from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) — KT plans to use the event as a springboard to boast its telecom prowess.

“We promise no significant delays in video images and pictures from the championships,” said a senior KT spokesman Lee In-won.

Fiber-optic cables will play a key role for real-time image and picture delivery to households around the work.

Using fiber-optic cables is far better for sending video images than using satellites.

A telecom center at KT’s headquarters in downtown Seoul will transmit images and data from the event around the world.

“All images to be seen in households are based on high-definition (HD) levels, which are brighter and more vivid. Also, trial tests for three-dimensional (3D) images are being set from Aug. 28 to 30,” said another KT representative, Kim Yoon-jeong.

KT, a dominant fixed-line operator, has spent heavily as a strategy to offer highly distinguished telecom services to all participants in the championships.

Thanks to the new system buildup, a maximum of 3,500 people can make a call, simultaneously and WiBro capability has increased, with 1,000 spectators in the Daegu stadium able to use the Internet it on a real-time basis.

Separately, the local telecom giant has installed some 100 access points (AP) in and out of the stadium and a main press center for a more stable and faster Internet connection.

In another back-up support package to help bloggers and media cover the championships, KT has built WiFi zones in the main stadium and around key parts of the marathon course.

“More WiFi zones in shopping malls and other public areas around the main venue will be installed. KT is in the final phase to complete the zones,” said Kim, adding that a maximum of 60,000 people will have Internet access after the expansion.

“It’s possible for one-person to cover the event just using a smartphone,” according to Kim.

As an official sponsor for the event, KT plans to push its so-called “CSR initiatives” during the period. Corporate social responsibility, or CSR, activities are part of KT’s recent business priority.

According to a statement, KT will invite some 50 children who need financial help to the final of the men’s 100 meters, and 1992 Olympic marathon champion Hwang Young-jo will conduct a Q&A session.

“This is a good chance for KT to increase our brand awareness internationally and everything has been set,” said Kim from KT.

The United States has sent the largest number of athletes with a total of 155, while Jamaica will have a total of 51 athletes, led by double-sprint world record holder Usain Bolt, who will start the games as the defending 100 and 200 meters champion.

KT has been the telecom service provider for almost all high-profile international events held in Korea, including the 2002 Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup and the G20 Summit.

Mobile Wonderland

Smoother preparations come as KT has yielded impressive returns over its years-long “Mobile Wonderland” project.

KT, the nation’s second-biggest telecom, has invested heavily in the project, aimed at enabling smartphone users to gain easier, wider and cheaper access to the Internet.

The project seemingly does make sense considering KT’s untouchable status in managing fixed-line business. Bureaucrat-turned-businessman Lee Suk-chae is handling the project himself with his right-hand man, Pyo Hyun-myung.

Pyo played a critical role in bringing Apple iPhones to Korea for the first time in 2009.

There is no question that this project will help KT edge its biggest local rival SK Telecom in the highly competitive local telecommunications market.

It has a nationwide network of AP meaning it can improve its infrastructure through a minimal investment.

The previous acquisition of its fixed and wireless affiliates has begun paying off to help cut costs and strengthen the telecom group’s capability of providing various convergent services. It has acquired the wireless unit KT Freetel.

Also KT plans to invest 5.1 trillion won, or some $4.3 billion, by the end of 2014 to widen its networks to meet rising demand for high-speed data services.

Of the total, 2.4 trillion won will be used to boost its 3G networks, while 1.67 trillion won has been allocated for the next-generation telecom standard (LTE) making it possible to complete what the company calls “3W networks” — WCDMA, WiBro and WiFi, said KT’s Kim.

Market analysts say KT’s steady and heavy investment to construct a WiFi “backbone” is significantly helping the firm easily expand its APs across the country.

This year, KT is aiming to operate 100,000 WiFi zones.

WiBro is the Korean variation of the telecommunications protocol WiMAX, providing broadband access on the move. The Egg-based WiFi services are available in Seoul subways.