Korea Telecom, ETRI making strenuous efforts to promote Korea's innovations The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) has prioritized a master plan to identify and develop new growth engines for the Korean economy over the next decade. MIC thus devised the IT839 strategy, which introduces and promotes eight services, three infrastructures and nine cash cows based on the unique value chain of the IT industry. Consequently, the WiBro (wireless broadband) system and the DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting) transmission and reception system have been successfully developed in Korea for the first time in the world and have been suggested as global standards for wireless broadband and digital multimedia broadcasting. In addition, the foundation for futuristic infrastructure such as broadband convergence network, ubiquitous sensor network and IPv6 has been laid to prepare for a ubiquitous society. The ministry also created an environment ready for new services such as WiBro, DMB, telematics and Internet telephony services, providing a new growth momentum for the sluggish telecom market. More specifically, the ministry selected WiBro operators early this year and plans to set forth licensing conditions to enhance fair competition and protect user interests. It will also continue discussions with the Korea Broadcasting Commission on the retransmission of over-the-air broadcasting programs over satellite DMB, which is in a trial stage. Operators of terrestrial DMB will be selected and the full terrestrial DMB service will begin within the first half of this year. In addition, the government and related industries will work together to form a DMB demonstration team to promote the service overseas and suggest it as an international standard. In an effort to effectively implement the IT839 strategy, the ministry will consistently focus on technology development and standardization for new services while taking necessary measures to resolve the aggravating imbalance of parts trade. Based on the success of WiBro and DMB, the ministry will put an emphasis on source technologies and mid- to longterm business models for intelligent service robots, next-generation PCs and RFID (radio frequency identification), areas with great market potential, within five years. At the same time, IT SMERP (IT Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises Revitalization Program) has been introduced to boost the competitiveness of IT small-sized companies and venture firms. A strategic focus has been given to open source software and software engineering while software procurement processes of public agencies have been improved to broaden the market for small software companies. With the IT globalization strategy, the ministry will promote IT Korea in the global market and actively attract world- DMB & WiBro Globalization best IT technologies and human resources to the country to maintain the global competitiveness of the Korean IT industry Based on the advanced IT infrastructure and services, the ministry will strengthen its efforts to create a ubiquitous IT hub that draws technology, human resources and funds of Northeast Asia. To enable everyone to access IT services anytime, anywhere, and pursue true humanism in the digital world, broadband convergence networks that provide Internet services at the speed of 50 to 100Mbps (megabits per second) will be deployed by 2010, IT training will be offered to 5 million digital have-nots by 2008 and the broadband coverage will expand throughout the country by 2007. KT sees WiBro potential as global standard In a presentation delivered at the First APT (Asia-Pacific Telecommunity) Forum in Seoul last July, Korea's official telecom service, KT Corporation outlined the role of Korea's WiBro for the convergence era and its potential for becoming the global standard. According to KT, the Wireless Data Market reached about US$3 billion. in 2004 and it was expected to exceed $6 billion by the end of next year, 2006. Meanwhile the market for WiBro subscribers was expected to reach 8 to 11 million subscribers within the next five years. The level of technical development, the will of service providers, competition and government policy are the factors that will determine market growth, according to KT. Referring to WiBro's competitiveness with existing services in similar categories, such as EV-DO, DMB, wireless LAN and broadband Internet service, it is WiBro that surpasses all of them in terms of mobility, low cost, high-speed transmission and variety of contents both in an indoor and outdoor environment. WiBro has in fact already achieved the status of de facto international standard, according to KT, in respect of its terms (portable Internet) and standards. Regarding the future prospects for WiBro globalization, KT pointed out that foreign CDMA and BWA providers consider WiBro to be the solution for future wireless data services. And WiBro service frequency overseas is expected to be 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz DMB is high on the government's list for overseas market penetration too. Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications research Institute (ETRI) is strongly promoting efforts toward international standardization of DMB services at international trial performances. ETRI seeks DMB commercialization In a recent interview with the Korea IT Times, Yim Chu-hwan, president of ETRI, explained ETRI's leading role in preparing for the launch of Digital Multimedia Broadcasting, saying, "ETRI will spare no effort in offering technical support to enable DMB services to be commercialized as early as possible. Just about everyone in the world is used to mobile communications. Once TV broadcasting becomes available in a mobile format, the response from the market will be explosive." The number of DMB subscribers in Korea is expected to grow rapidly with a yearly rise of 191 percent, while the total number of subscribers forecast to surge from 400,000 in 2005 to over 10 million in 2010. As a result, he said, Korean DMB technology has been adopted as the European standards. This means that domestic DMB equipment as well as service companies will be well positioned to make inroads into the world DMB market. In addition, Korea's DMB international trial performance group has successfully held demonstrations in China, Brazil, Britain, and France, after starting in Bayern, Germany, the site of the 2006 World Cup, in October 2003. Yim stressed that in 2005 ETRI will also make every effort toward completion of DMB service technology. He said ETRI would take the initiative in promoting the Korean DMB paradigm in world markets. At the same time, ETRI plans to promote its international standardization activities more aggressively with a view to positioning Korean DMB as a global rather than simply a European-affiliated type of technology.