Synchronous Operator for IMT-2000 to Get Incentives
A wholly new aspect has unfolded on the heated discussions over the IMT-2000 standards over the weekend with the private sector giving leeway to the government in choosing standards. The ad-hoc IMT-2000 Technology Standard Committee, comprised of private-sector equipment producers and service operators, reached a consensus Friday and made a five-item recommendation for the standard selection to the Ministry of Information and Communication (MOIC). The committee recommended that the government choose, among others, a side-by-side deployment of two standards, synchronous cdma2000 and asynchronous W-CDMA, and, more importantly, provide incentives for the service providers going for the synchronous method. MOIC Minister Ahn Byung-yup has reiterated that his ministry will accept the committee's recommendation with no strings attached, but now is likely to opt for the widely-suggested distribution to three operators; one for cdma2000 and two for W-CDMA.
Moving forward from the recommended points, the ministry plans to refine its schedule for awarding the incentives, which could include allotting favorable frequencies to operators of cdma2000. Of the 60MHz available for the spectrum allotment, the ministry is likely to hand out 20MHz to the synchronous operator, while allotting only 15MHz to each of two W-CDMA operators, while keeping the remaining 10MHz on reserve.
Observers noted, however, that the recommendation does not rule out further controversy as three candidate operators for the IMT-2000 service; SK Telecom, Korea Telecom and LG Telecom; have yet to straighten out their differences over opting for one standard over the other. |
