Gov't to play hand in 3G standard adoption:
koreaherald.co.kr
09/16/2000
Home || Text Only || Search Archives
Gov't to play hand in 3G standard adoption:
10-member committee to work out compromise
on technology issue by next month
The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) has decided to form a
10 member-committee headed by the chairman of the Telecommunications Policy
Deliberative Council (TPDC) to work out a compromise on the third-generation
(3G) technology standard issue by the end of next month. This sees it going back on
its word not to intervene in the dispute.
In a meeting of representatives from Korea Telecom (KT), SK Telecom (SKT),
LG, Samsung Electronics (SE) , LG Electronics (LGE) and Hyundai Electronics
Industries (HEI) convened by the Information and Communication Minister Ahn
Byung-yub last Thursday, it was unanimously agreed that the application deadline
for IMT-2000 license be put off by a month, according to Kim In-shik, the ministry
spokesperson.
A 10-member committee composed of representatives from the three telecom
operators bidding for 3G licenses, three equipment manufacturers and members of
the TPCD will be charged with hammering out a resolution to the thorny issue of
technology standard.
Although not unexpected, this is an abrupt turn-about in the government's
position, which had maintained that it would leave the decision on the technology
standard question up to the industry, both the service operators and the equipment
manufacturers.
There are two competing 3G standards, W-CDMA (wideband-code division
multiple access) which is expected to take 80 percent of the global market, and
cdma2000 developed by Qualcomm that evolves from cdmaOne currently
deployed here. When the government first began formulating the policy for
IMT-2000 operator selection, it said would allow operators to decide on their
standards, although it would like to see multiple standards being adopted.
With SKT initially indicating that it would deploy cdma2000 network, all
seemed fine. But things began to go awry for the ministry when SKT changed its
mind and all the service operators declared that they would adopt the W-CDMA
standard, forsaking the CDMA technology that the country was first to pioneer
commercially.
As long as there were four companies bidding for the three available IMT-2000
things still seemed hopeful that the ministry could entice one of the operators to take
the cdma2000 technology standard. A high-level ministry official even said, "I am
confident that in the end we will have a cdma2000 operator."
Things took a turn for the worse for the ministry, however, when Korea
IMT-2000, a consortium led by Hanaro Telecom Inc. dissolved itself, its members
choosing to join the other three consortiums. With three consortiums bidding for
three licenses, the government's room to maneuver became severely limited.
Despite its earlier confidence and much to its embarrassment, the government has
not been able to convince Korea Telecom, in which it holds a majority stake, to
take the cdma2000 technology. Nor has it been able to persuade SKT, the
company responsible for the first commercial CDMA deployment, to stick with
CDMA technology by adopting the cdma2000 standard. LG, which has been
pursuing W-CDMA technology since 1997, has maintained from the beginning that
it will deploy a W-CDMA network and the ministry seems to have no argument
there.
While all the service operators insist that they need to deploy a W-CDMA
network because it is believed that W-CDMA will eventually take 80 percent of the
world market, local equipment manufacturers, led by SE, counter that the country
can maintain its edge in CDMA technology only if there is a cdma2000 operator
here.
Ultimately, the dispute over technology selection boils down to the clash of
service operators' and equipment makers' interests. With the two sides unable to
reach a resolution on their own, the government has resorted to playing a not so
invisible hand. By appointing the head of the TDC, a ministry organization, to lead
the new committee, and involving the ministry-funded Korea Information Society
Development Institute (KISDI) in the committee, the ministry could attract criticism
that it has once again involved itself in a process that is the domain the private
sector.
Indeed, the ministry has now left itself open to criticism that it continues to
promote the domestic manufacturing industry at the expense of consumers' interests.
The OECE Economic Survey on Korea released Aug.1 mentioned precisely this
problem when it advised "the tendency of MIC to make decisions with the aim of
developing the equipment manufacturing industry should be replaced by focusing
more on the interests of the users of telecommunication services," and said that it is
important that MIC avoid micro-managing the sector. "Direct participation of the
government in infrastructure projects can be inefficient and such investment should
be left to private companies, who respond to the demands of users," the report
said.
Updated: 09/16/2000
by Kim Hoo-ran Staff reporter
Previous || Top
(C) Copyright 2000 Digital Korea Herald. All rights reserved
Contact us for more information |
