Telecommunications providers around the world have spent tens of billions of dollars to create Third Generation mobile telephone services. Yet 3G services are still waiting to be introduced in many markets. The initial 3G euphoria seems to have evaporated as companies struggle to deploy the technology and provide commercially viable services. What are the applications consumers will adopt that will pay for it all What can be learnt from experiences in Korea and the U.S. And which underlying technology will prevail CDMA technology has proven that it will play a global role despite entrenched competition from GSM and iMode. What will the next generation of CDMA look like And how will the battle for global dominance shape up This session delved into these questions. The World ICT Summit's Session 2 consisted of five speakers that included Russ Mitchell, West Coast Editor, Chief Executive (Moderator), Rob Chandhok, Vice President, Qualcomm, George Mansho, Vice President, Asia Pacific, CDMA Development Group, Cho Shin, Senior Vice President, Strategy & Planning Group, SK Telecom, and Gerry Collins, Director, UMTS Group, Nortel The following is a summary of their discussion. Mr. Mitchell: I have visited Korea many times in the past and I'm very impressed with the advancements and strides that have been made after each visit. Mr. Mansho: CDMA is a special interest group made up of many telecom industry operators worldwide. The primary operators in Korea include KTF, LGT and SKT. The development group works with various ministries and Telecom providers to improve CDMA. Korea is by far the leader in technology within the telecom industry. Koreans are at the top of their game, but cannot sit still and must continue to improve. Mr. Chandhok: Korea is leading the way with technologies and convergence activities within the handset, mobile phone industry. He feels that the technologies must focus on the ease of use for the customers. Also, the technology must continue to improve to provide for a more profitable business model. Mr. Cho: Of SK Telecom's total revenue, data services make up most of the demand. Two-thirds of the services are related to personalized services such as video on demand games on demand, etc. To satisfy customers, new technologies have been developed including MP3, Cameras, videos and games. The next step will be further technological development of personalized services for the customer. The industry must continue to further educate the customers in the future. SKT received a WCDMA license in 2001 and it is still in its infant stage. They plan to invest $1 billion and attract 200,000 subscribers. Mr. Collins: UMTS is a group working with operators, vendors and regulators to promote a future standard that primarily exists in Europe. Telephony, high speed data and video are a few of the applications that are currently used. HSDPA is a standard that will be implemented in the future. UTMS is a standard that they are working on to provide a full package of services to customers. Some of the benefits for these standards include download speed, video telephony, roaming capabilities, revenue and volumes of scale to operators. Mr. Cho: There are some issues for 3G technology, including broadcast and media limitations. There are currently 500,000 subscribers in Korea that receive video on their handsets. SKT plans to invest a large amount in the future and thus cover many cities using HSDPA. With cheaper plans, SKT will be able to attract more customers and offer more services. I also feel that video telephony is not going to be as big as some think. Mr. Collins: The challenge will be how to deliver quality services and at a low cost. A major benefit to the operator is the huge growth in voice and personalized content. Mr. Mansho: The major different countries are that they are in different stages of maturation. Can the operators tailor the services to the customers at a reasonable price The technology will be there and it depends how the operators and regulators offer a cost effective service to the customers. Rob: The cost benefit of the service is the most important issue for the operators and the customers. The major problem of many of these technologies is the overall cost of the infrastructure. The main question is how to provide a service that benefits all. Mr. Cho: One problem is that the economics of the services do not match the expectations of the service operators. Overall, video services are very costly. Mr. Mitchell: Mobile phone delivery is divided into two basic camps: CDMA and GSM. UMTS and WCDMA are two standards that have been derived from GSM while CDMA2000 and EVDO came from CDMA. Mr. Collins: There are basic similarities in the two technologies. Mr. Mansho: All standards are similar and strive to provide better telecommunications that are cost effective. Mr. Cho: EVDO is a very high quality standard and SKT & KTF were the first to use it in Korea. There are 12 million subscribers globally with 10 million in Korea and 2 million in Japan. A large portion of the revenues comes from voice and data services. HDSPA is the advanced version of WCDMA and WCDMA will be very successful in the future. I feel that EVDO will continue to improve. Mr. Collins: Regulators must play a role in the betterment of the operators and the customers. 3G Technology will remain a handset technology of the future. Mr. Mancho: Korea, SKT and KTF, will lead the pack in EVDO and will be a test case. Mr. Mitchell: Asked what personalized services will be the leaders. Mr. Collins: He feels that SMS to talk to others, personalized video and the ability of customers to set up their own handset services. Mr. Cho: Personalized services are still in their infant stage and the operators must work hard to provide the services that the customers want. Mr. Mitchell: What type of services do customers want from video Mr. Mancho: Currently, the price of video telephony is very expensive. Video demand will be huge, but at what price What can the operators offer and at what price and cost Mr. Mitchell: How will you attract customers away from CDMA2000 Mr. Cho: Currently, the operators can handle services between CDMA 2000 and WCDMA through cooperation among them. SKT is committed to spending $.7 billion and plans to expand to over 20 cities.