The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) plans to push its new 'u-IT839' Strategy in earnest to create an IT industry with revenues of 576 trillion won and added-value of 277 trillion won during the next five years through 2010. The Ministry announced on February 8 its annual plan for 2006 which outlined the u-IT839 Strategy, a revised version of the IT-839 Strategy set up in February 2004, and policies to bring about the Ubiquitous Society. In the newly designed u-IT839 Strategy, the Internet phone service (VoIP), which has already been commercialized, was excluded from the list of eight new services outlined in the previous u-IT839 Strategy. In addition, DMB and DTV services were combined into a single service to be replaced by 'broadband convergence services' ' and 'IT services' to reflect today's trend of attaching importance to software and the convergence of communication with broadcasting. In the category of the three major infrastructures outlined in the strategy, the Internet address system IPv6 was integrated into BcN and was replaced by 'soft infraware' in its place. In the list of nine new engines of growth, mobile communication and telematics equipment were integrated into one to be replaced by RFID/USN devices. According to MIC's forecast, the IT industry is expected to post an annual growth of 14.2% during the five-year period until 2010 and create revenues totaling 576 trillion won with addedvalues worth 266 trillion won. In his briefing to the press, Minster Chin said, 'The u-IT839 Strategy will strengthen the tie-ups among services, infrastructures, and new engines of growth and will give vitality to the nation's economy by actively fostering software and facilitating the convergence between the IT sectors with non-IT fields.' The Advent of 'National Robots' as Household Assistants MIC has announced that the government plans to develop 'national robots' at a price of one million won each for their use in households this year. Based on the view that production costs can be drastically reduced when intelligent robots will be developed by utilizing the nation's advanced network infrastructure, the government set up a special task force last year for developing national robots. The ministry said that R&D projects, such as platform standardization for component modulation and for securing the compatibility between devices, are being carried out as scheduled. Accordingly, the ministry forecasts, national robots will give new vitality to the society. HSDPA and WiBro to Open Ultra High-Speed Internet Age During the first half of this year, WiBro, the world's first wireless broadband Internet, will go into commercial service in Korea. To better facilitate this momentous service, the government plans to oversee and assist its implementation by building up a cooperative system among the tripartite entities of businesses, academic circles and research institutions. In addition, the government plans to formulate favorable business environment by preparing a specialized fee system for WiBro service. In the meantime, the government plans to introduce HSDPA, a new W-CDMA channel with a maximum transmission speed of 16Mbps, by the end of this year. When this goes into service, Korea will be opening an ultra high-speed Internet Age true to its name. Area of Service for Terrestrial DMB to be Expanded Nationwide In order to secure usable frequencies for the terrestrial DMB at the regional level, the ministry intends to redress the usable frequencies for 44 T-DMB stations. The ministry said that it would issue licenses expeditiously upon the recommendations by the Korea Broadcasting Commission for opening the 'Era of Handheld TVs' ' around the nation. Since the bright prospects of DMB as a major trade item have already been confirmed, the ministry said it will actively foster DMB-related businesses. To this end, the ministry plans to exert effort to make DMB adopted this year as ITU's international standards following the ETSI's adoption last year. According to the ministry's forecast, the number of DMB subscribers will grow to 2.1 million by the end of this year, and to 15 million by 2010, with the cumulative sum of exports made through DMB players during the corresponding period expected to reach 35 billion US dollars. Entire Nation to Receive Terrestrial Digital TV Access Terrestrial digital TV broadcasting in Korea, which began service in metropolitan regions in 2004, is slated for nationwide service as 17 additional cities and counties will be included in serviced areas under the scope of 41 digital TV stations. Partial Adoption of 'Real-Name System' on the Internet As part of a government scheme to keep Internet sound cyberspace, the ministry has come up with a number of measures. These include partial adoption of a 'real name system', an arbitration system for the prevention of cyber disputes, the development and dissemination of software for informing spam, and development of Privacy Trust Score (PTS) that can measure the degree of privacy being protected. In addition to these, the ministry plans to develop automatic verification systems to check falsification of electronic documents and software for the protection of corporate information. For the purpose of preventing hacking on the Internet, the ministry plans to run 'automatic hacking search system' 200 times annually and thereby prevent hacking on about 70,000 major Web sites. High-Speed Internet for Villages with More Than 30 Households As part of a government plan to bridge the information gap, the ministry plans to make the high-speed Internet accessible to about 130,000 households that have thus far been left secluded from the information network. In addition, the ministry said it plans to provide educational programs to some 890,000 'information-alienated' people - including the elderly, handicapped and North Korean migrants - and supply them with a total of 25,000 IT devices. To support this project, the ministry plans to invest a total of 43.7 billion won this year. 'Mobile Number One Project' Launched The ministry announced that it would implement the 'Mobile Number One Project' for Korea to become a top 'mobile nation' and lead the global market by 2010. The ministry said that the project is highly significant in the sense that it not only commemorates the 10th anniversary of CDMA's successful commercialization, but will also open the era of $30,000 per capita income by creating another success story after CDMA's. To achieve this goal, the ministry has outlined five major strategies: the building of 'Mobile Special Districts' ' for laying down the mobile environment for the next generation; the formation of cheap and safe mobile environment; the securement of technological edge to lead the global mobile market; the building of an environment for creating new mobile businesses; and the formation of a foundation for the mobile industry's continued growth. UN-ESCAP ICT Training Center to Bolster Korea's Leadership The ministry said that it plans to build up Korea's leadership role in the IT field on the global stage by opening the ICT Training Center of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) and actively promote international cooperation, through such means as the training of IT manpower from developing countries.