Interview Highlight Korea's Mobile Internet technology leaps 6-12 months ahead of competitors The following are excerpts from an exclusive interview with the Minister of Information and Communication Rho Jun-hyong: Q: Would you explain to our readers your ministry's views and supporting policy for global WiBro standardization The ministry has led the global standardization of IEEE802.16e to realize a sizable economy through globalization of the WiBro technology. The IEEE 802.16e technology standard was adopted as the main technology of WiBro at the end of 2005. The Mobile WiMAX profile standard for guaranteeing compatibility between equipment was also made based on the WiBro profile, successfully creating the foundation to advance into the global market. Through the ministry's persistent supports to attract Mobile WiMAX specialized test/authentication institution, TTA attained the qualifications for the Mobile WiMax official test center and plans to conduct the Mobile WiMax authentication test from the end of 2006. In the future, the ministry will continue supporting projects for development of WiBro evolution technology and further evolution of mobile Internet. It will also secure the technology leadership in the IEEE 802.16j global standards and make best efforts to help Korea become a leader of the 4th-generation mobile communication technology. Q: Would you comment on the ministry's activities and the future plan for the globalization of Korean WiBro We held international road shows and publicized superiority of the nation's WiBro technology abroad, greatly contributing to Korean enterprises' advancement into overseas markets. In 2005, we introduced the nation's WiBro technology and services to Taiwan, China and Malaysia. Also, we held successful overseas road shows in Canada, Republic of South Africa and Egypt in 2006. We plan to continue holding overseas road shows and international forums on WiBro in the future to herald the nation's excellent WiBro technology abroad and accelerate Korean WiBro technology's advancement into foreign countries. We also invited WiBro experts and dignitaries from international standard organizations and groups to Korea in May 2006, finishing the preparations for the Wireless Broadband World Forum 2006 (http://www.wibro-worldforum.org). Along with this, the ministry projects to organize overseas road shows in UAE and Germany during the World Cup period in 2006. Q: Would you give your assessment of the services and product solutions of the domestic WiBro industry The Korean technology has gone ahead of that of major advanced countries by about six months to one year in the mobile Internet (WiBro, mobile WiMAX) field. For instance, Samsung Electronics, POSDATA and LG-Notel emerged as global technology leaders in the WiBro system sector and Solid Technologies, Kisan telecom, while MTI, WITHUS, and Youngwoo Telecom became the world's technology leaders in the WiBro repeater sector. Samsung Electronics is the only company in the world that has secured the top-class technology to offer commercialized equipment. It concluded strategic alliances with major foreign enterprises to supply WiBro system and terminal, while offering technology support for 17 countries preparing for WiBro. Meanwhile, KT succeeded in opening the WiBro model service in 2006, making preparations for the offering of commercial service for the first time in the world smoothly. Q: Do you have any suggestions for domestic companies to dominate the global market and supporting projects for them To offer the global market equipment on the basis of Time-to-Market, Korean enterprises should offer equipment with price competitiveness at a proper time and guarantee high quality. They also need to keep market competitiveness in the multi-vendor period through ways to bolster competitiveness of the services, core equipment, parts and contents industries. To this end, service providers, manufacturers and professional smaller companies need to jointly advance into overseas markets and push for market exploration effectively. In line with this, the ministry plans to actively support the domestic Mobile WiMAX official authentication test center to help the center create test environment and carry out authentication tests at the end of 2006.