The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) said that it has decided to invest this year a total of 963.4 billion won for R&D related programs and speed up the IT839 project. MIC said the planned disbursement is a 12% increase from last year and will be spent in such endeavors as technology and human resources development, standards making, and laying down a solid foundation for research. The decision was made during a policy deliberation committee meeting held by MIC on January 11. At the meeting, the committee also approved the designation of 10 telecom operators, such as KT, to be eligible to provide the so-called 'universal services' during the next two-year period. The services include short-distance calls, public telephony, and dialing services with special numbers, and in remote regions, in addition to those specialized services for the handicapped and impoverished. In the meantime, the committee also approved six licenses to companies such as Korea Location Information & Communications, 3Soft, Mytek Korea, and 'T.ON telecom' as GPS service providers.