Chang-Bun Yoon , Hanaro Telecom CEO

The WiBro mobile Internet service that Hanaro envisions is based on an IP network wireless Internet system available whenever and wherever users can connect with high-speed Internet. After the company first offers a WiBro pilot service in the Kwangnam/Songpa area within the first quarter of 2006, Hanaro Telecom plans to launch services on a commercial basis June 1, 2006 with priority given to large metropolitan cities. Hanaro Telecom CEO Chang-Bun Yoon said in an interview with The Korea IT Times on the occasion of the company's designation as a business provider of WiBro business, "Hanaro Telecom is scheduled to offer services in all of Korea's 84 cities". The CEO said that Hanaro Telecom will provide various multimedia added-on services such as high-speed Internet and wireless LAN, plus entertainment channels broadcasted via mobile phones. Hanaro Telecom will generate creative content as well as added service development by adapting an 'open platform' policy and by opening a WiBro network, Mr. Yoon said. Hanaro Telecom is planning to prevent overlapping investment by itself and the government by proposing common use of base stations and joint network construction with other service providers. 'Open platform' policy

Assembling demonstration made Hanaro WiBro equipment

On Hanaro Telecom's plans to expand its WiBro business, CEO Yoon said a balanced development of the wire/wireless market is called for. Hanaro Telecom has carried out a pioneering role in building IT capability through its involvement in the high-speed Internet market. However, the performance of the wired high-speed Internet market can't compare to the 7.5% annual increase in wireless-based mobile communication services. On the other hand, the mobile communication market is monopolistic, with growing user dissatisfaction because of limited content choice and low speed/high charges. Mr. Yoon asserted that WiBro will contribute to the development of the mobile telecom market and the associated industry by providing high-speed open wireless Internet services at moderate prices, so differentiating it from existing services. In that regard, the CEO committed himself to promoting wire/wireless/communication broadcasting convergence. Hanaro Telecom will certainly build its IT capability by developing WiBro service, a convergence-based service involving wire/wireless integration and communication broadcasting fusion. Mr. Yoon saw the service as an aid to boosting the economy and thereby reaching a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $20,000. He stressed that Hanaro Telecom will play an intermediary role in providing wire/wireless, and communication/ broadcasting fusion services. Along with this, Hanaro Telecom plans to use the company's subscriber base to provide TPSs (Triple Play Services) such as wire/wireless integration, broadcasting, and VoIP in combination with high-speed Internet service. Mr. Yoon stated that Hanaro Telecom will strive to offer integrated products. For example, by developing WiBro as complementary service to high-speed Internet and offering them together as a "bundle product". In addition, Hanaro Telecom is expected to play a leading role in the future wire/wireless convergence market by providing IP-based open service infrastructure and so contribute to consumer convenience as an element of national economic growth. Development of WiBro as a complementary service Since late 2001, Hanaro Telecom has been continuously engaged in R&D in Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode to support its WiBro service. At an IEEE802.16 standardization enactment conference held in the Marriott Hotel, Seoul in August 2004, Hanaro Telecom proposed several WiBro core technologies as standards, 5 of which were adopted. In September 2004, the company completed technology verification for its Hpi (High-speed Portable internet), an entirely in-house technology with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI). In addition, it has been taking part in all processes necessary for the purpose of WiBro standardization. Mr. Yoon emphasized that Hanaro Telecom will strive for the early development of a commercial WiBro system by adapting domestic technology to international standards, for instance by cooperating with domestic service providers as well as manufacturing companies. In regard to the company's wireless network design ability and expertise in networks and backbone networks, the CEO said that in the case of wireless network design ability, Hanaro Telecom has accumulated considerable know-how overseas. In terms of its ability to operate access networks, he said Hanaro Telecom right now possesses base station operation capability that by no means lags that of mobile phone companies. Mr. Yoon said the company is the most competitive compared to competing companies in terms of backbone network operating ability. He pointed out that Hanaro was responsible for the world's first commercialization of ADSL, the nationwide IP network coverage, and breaking ground by offering various ADSL/VDSL/HFC/metro Ethernet services. On the subject of the basic direction of Hanaro Telecom's WiBro business, Mr. Yoon explained the company wishes to utilize WiBro as an opportunity to construct a mutually complementary multi-access network to the existing high-speed Internet network and will aim to strengthen its future profit base through wireless Internet market penetration. Over the next three years, Hanaro Telecom plans to introduce tie-up services, that is, combinations of Wi-Bro with CDMA, DMB and so forth. In conclusion, Mr. Yoon said the entire communication market must be developed through competition to produce a balanced development between wire and wireless, and reductions in investment costs through common use of base station is indispensable to the future profitability of the WiBro business.