Major IT industry issues to be resolved by Fair Trade Commission this month
A number of important information technology (IT) issues of significance to the
local IT industry will be decided this month.
The month opened with a big bang in the form of the world's first commercial
cdma2000 1x service that supports wireless transmission of multimedia data by SK
Telecom (SKT). Another major news item involving wireless carriers is a decision
by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), expected to be announced today, on SKT's
appeal for a one-year extension on the June 2001 deadline for lowering its market
share to 50 percent.
However, the FTC is unlikely to rule in favor of SKT in its petition, reasoning that
the dominant wireless operator has nine more months to comply with its order. The
FTC attitude is that allowing an extension would undermine the reason for issuing
the order in the first place, which was to ensure fair competition. Since SKT has
said it will take further legal steps if the FTC rules against it, there's unlikely to be an
early settlement.
Contention over the technology standard issue which has stalled the licensing of
IMT-2000 operators, is likely to be resolved before Oct.25.
Applications for the three IMT-2000 operator's licenses are due Oct. 25-31, so
the issue will have to be addressed before then. It appears the IMT-2000 service
launch could be delayed by a few years to allow the local equipment makers to
develop the necessary hardware as all operators, SKT, Korea Telecom (KT) and
LG TeleCom remain firm in their decisions to deploy W-CDMA (wideband code
division multiple access) networks.
The ad-hoc Technology Standard Committee, made up of representatives from
service providers and the manufacturing sector as well as the academia and
research institutes, is holding a public discussion on the issue today. The committee
is expected to fine-tune its recommendation before submitting the final plan to the
Telecommunication Policy Deliberation Committee (TPDC)
Powercomm, recently spun off from KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corp.) with
a nationwide optical fiber network, is to start looking at potential strategic partners
who will take a 30 percent stake in the company.
The sale will start this month after it was postponed last month due to differences
between the MIC, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MCIE) and the
Ministry of Planning and Budget (MPB).
While MIC maintains that only facilities-based telecom companies should be
allowed stakes in Powercomm on grounds that there would eventually be a resate
as well as line-leasing. MCIE and MPB hold that there should be no restrictions on
eligibility.
A three-way battle among POSCO (Pohang Iron & Steel Corp.), SK Telecom
and LG Group is expected for the 30 percent stake. SKT and POSCO each
acquired five percent stakes in Powercomm in the first round of sales last July.
Applications for the satellite broadcasting license are likely to be accepted from
the middle of the month, after years of delay due to the absence of legislation
covering satellite broadcasting.
Only one operator will be given satellite broadcasting rights after a beauty
contest. The invitation for bids is to be issued next week following a public hearing
on the review standard by the Broadcasting Commission. Consortiums led by
Korea Telecom, LG Group, Iljin and Cheil Jedang are all vying for the license.
Updated: 10/04/2000
by Kim Hoo-ran Staff reporter
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