2010-07 - Korea IT Times

Electronics Special
Yang Seung-taik(left), the former Minister of MIC and Invited Researcher of
ETRI / Chin Dae-je(right), the former Minister of MIC and President&CEO of
Skylake Incuvest & Co.
Lee smiled thoughtfully, and then decided to give KRW 1.5 billion
of rewards to ETRI. Lee didn't take less than 5 minutes to have
the final word. This story is a perfect example to glimpse the reputation
of Lee, as a man with initiative and drive.
Soon, WiMAX got a nickname, 'WiBro,' in Korea taking the
name from 'Wireless' and 'Broadband.' In 2005, KT and SK
Telecom were granted ability to be the operators of the technology.
Hanaro Telecom who participated in the beginning of the project
unfortunately had to give up the booking during the process. The
reason why is known that the foreign investors were against investment
at the time. Currently, the assigned frequency for Hanaro was
returned and remained open.
However, the commercialization for WiMAX had been sluggish
for the next 2 years, it was only a limited-service in certain areas including
Seoul and Boondang in 2006. Nevertheless SK Telecom
and KT, got the license for WiMAX; the two mobile business carriers
slacked up the hereafter investment.
Nowadays the wireless date usage begins to blow with the recent
Smartphone trends, the situation turned in WiMAX's favor. Today
is literally the golden time for Mobile WiMAX since its birth.
KT and SK Telecom certainly changed their attitude and treated
WiMAX nicer than before. KT developed a portable Wi-Fi router,
'Egg,' and builds WiMAX networks all around the nation. SK
Telecom who seemed slow in investment during the past, also has
been involved in a variety of related businesses to keep up with the
trend. WiMAX's popularity is not a phenomenon only in Korea.
Rather, it is way popular in other nations. According to data recently
examined, 568 networks of WiMAX were built in 148 countries
around the world which is a 14.3 percent of growth from a year
ago, 522 networks in 147 nations. It just proves the high value of
WiMAX.
This domestic technology is contributing to the internet usage of
cosmopolitan people around the world especially, in Africa where
there is incomplete internet network construction and in the Asiapacific
region, high demand on data. If so, how we can predict the
future of WiMAX? Yim answered with the question by saying, "It
is unmanageable to spread the wired internet in the wide areas like
Africa. However, wireless internet technology, WiMAX, covers 2-
4km of area per a base station, so it is much more effective in many
ways." Yim expected that the foreign demand will be increasing
steadily citing the cases which are KT currently process the
WiMAX business directly in Uzbekistan since the acquisition of a
business in 2008 and SK Telecom have recently engaged in a business
in Malaysia.
He added by saying, "WiMAX has broader coverage than WiFi.
Therefore, it has the high value in use at home and abroad. Even
though, LTE (Long Term Evolution), the next network for the future,
is emerging, WiMAX will firmly stand its position and be
widely used as an international standard."
Developing the mobile internet technology, WiMAX and retaining
the source technology with standardization is great enough to
get praises, but it also left some to be desired. Such as to let the technology
to rest for over four years after its commercialization of the
technology in 2006. And Yim named the reasons for the error of
bidders' selection. He explained that since KT and SK Telecom already
have been operating the wireless business, it can not be
helped, their negative attitude on additional investment. And he
was sorely missed by the stopover of Hanaro Telecom.
Yim said "Because of that, Hanaro Telecom did not have a wireless
business communications. They would actively promote network
building compared to other carriers. If they pursued the project
without giving up, today Korea might shine in full glory in to
the world as the powerhouse of the Smartphone."
In the past when Hanaro telecom and KT were competitive towards
ADSL, wired internet access lines, the fierce fight between
two companies enabled Korea to be the Internet powerhouse.
Full Series Schedule
For those interested in past or future issues of this series, here is
the full schedule of the series:
July 2009 : An overview
August 2009 : The electronics industry is born
September 2009 : Electronics industry gains momentum
October 2009 : Color TV production opens a new vista
November 2009 : Radios, cassettes
and electronic watches change lifestyle
December 2009 : The personal computer arrives
January 2010 : TDX1 introduced into the local network
February 2010 : TFT LCD allows determination of film thickness
March 2010 : CDMA comes into commercial use
April 2010 : U-technologies (part 1)
June 2010 : U-technologies (part 2)
July/August 2010 : WiMAX opens
September 2010 : Era of IPTV
KimYearim/ yearim@koreaittimes.com
www.koreaittimes.com 49