SK Telecom seeks to keep rolling cellular success to IMT-2000
koreaherald.co.kr
SK Telecom, Korea's largest mobile carrier with over 15 million subscribers, has
been a stronghold of CDMA (code division multiple access technology) technology,
but it is determined to sustain the lead role.
The mobile communication giant is confident that the subscribers at its cellular
service will remain to be members of its IMT-2000 service.
SK Telecom is said to be stronger than its competitors in terms of financial status,
which experts say a great advantage for the next-generation mobile service business
that costs billion of dollars.
"The first stage development of IMT-2000 represented an enormous investment.
The success of IMT-2000, a basic telecommunication business, depends on how
much we can understand customers and meet their needs," said a company
spokesman. "SK Telecom, which has over 15 million clients, is the best company to
provide custom-made IMT-2000 services." With the abolition of financial support
for newly purchased handset by mobile carrier combined by extensive subscriber
base, the company is seeing its profit skyrocketing. The company said it has a room
to attract as much 5 trillion won even if it borrows capital of up to 200 percent of its
debt-to-equity ratio.
Earlier this month, the company has disclosed 12 core technologies in the field of
W-CDMA, which it has developed jointly with 63 companies at an exhibition.
The company unveiled, among other things, a switching system for asynchronous
transfer mode (ATM) for high-speed wireless communication. It also introduced
tools for optimizing the network for IMT-2000 and demonstrated video phone
using an IMT-2000 handset and a wired phone based on the Web.
SK Telecom plans to introduce a test version of the system to check seamless
interaction of W-CDMA modules disclosed at the event by the end of the year, and
start full-fledged operation of the system by April 2002.
"SK Telecom provides third-generation IMT-2000 services based on the
company's accumulated technology and experience through its first and
second-generation mobile telecommunication service business," the company
spokesman said. "SK Telecom plans to lead the development of the coming
generation as well." The company said it is equipped with a CDMA mobile phone
network of the highest standards in the world and is ranked as the world's seventh
largest mobile communications network based on the number of subscribers (it rises
to fifth when Shinsegi Telecomm is included).
The company sees that it is at least two years ahead technology-wise when
compared to other Korean companies due to the success of the test of mobile
image phone communications in 1999. In October last year, it constructed a
three-part cooperative system with large equipment manufacturing companies, small
and medium venture companies, and telecommunication companies in order to
develop synchronous and asynchronous systems for general use.
Updated: 08/31/2000 |
