SK, LG, KT Likely to Be Chosen for IMT-2000
hk.co.kr
In all likelihood SK Telecom, LG Telecom and
Korea Telecom will have been selected as the
operators of IMT-2000 (International Mobile
Telecommunication) when the results are in.
To be sure, Korea IMT-2000, a consortium set up
specifically for the project, is vying hard, and the
government has promised no preferential treatment
would be given to existing service providers, but
industry analysts have all but written them off.
In setting the qualifications for IMT-2000
operators, the Ministry of Information and
Communication said Wednesday following a
consultation with the legislature that there will only
be three licensees.
And so this means one of the four aspiring
companies will have to be left out of the pack and
SK, LG and Korea Telecom simply have too much
experience to allow that to happen.
``Chances are that IMT-2000 Korea will form a
partnership with either Korea Telecom or LG
Telecom since SK Telecom has said it will go it
alone,'' said one industry analyst.
While it appears to be an open and shut case _ three
existing mobile communications service companies
making the transition into IMT-2000 _ there have
been voices of dissent.
``The government is asking for a maximum
contribution of 1.3 trillion won from each operator
and this is nearly 10 times what it was when the
PCS (personal communications service) companies
were selected,'' said one company official.
In the case of IMT-2000 Korea, it said this is a
citizens' coalition designed to provide the most ideal
services to subscribers and so it is not fair that it is
asked to make the same contribution as existing
mobile communications service providers.
The contribution, which will be used later to help
cut service charges for subscribers, is actually a
charge for buying the frequency. Recently, the
French government sold the frequency for 5.2
trillion won.
On the technical side, all companies are believed to
be favoring the asynchronous system which is used
in Europe but this is feared to wipe out the huge
investment made in CDMA (code division multiple
access) technologies and create trade friction with
the United States which is use a synchronous
system.
``We believe the European method is more
advanced and better suited for Korea and the
government did say that there is no limitation on the
technology to be used,'' said one SK official.
The company that is really feeling the heat is Korea
Telecom since it is a state-invested company and is
obligated to look out for the national and public
interest and so the option is still open.
``It is difficult to tell for now, but if Korea Telecom
decides to adopt the synchronous system, SK
Telecom is likely to follow suit since it had until
recently showed a preference for the American
technology,'' the analyst said.
And if the two companies decide to go with the
American technology, there will be little alternative
for LG Telecom but to converge and adopt the same
system, the industry analysts said.
``Setting up the IMT-2000 network is going to
require huge investment and the three companies
will have to collaborate with each other one way or
another and this means they will have to use the
same technology,'' one analyst said.
The IMT-2000 services are to go into commercial
operation in 2002 when there is projected to be
some 1.35 million subscribers, a number which will
increase to 12.4 million in the year 2005 and surpass
the 28 million mark in 2011.
ÀԷ½ð£ 2000/07/06 16:40 |
