Rival Parties Clash Over IMT 2000 Project
2000/10/30(Mon) 17:44
Rival Parties Clash Over IMT 2000 Project
By Kim Kwang-tae Staff Reporter
Lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties were engaged in a hectic debate
over the nation's next generation mobile phone project called IMT-2000.
While the opposition argued that the government must honor the opinions of the
service providers in selecting the type of IMT-2000 technology, the ruling party
said that the government ought to take into account the national interest in reaching
its decision on the ``third generation'' mobile phone services.
Lawmakers of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) yesterday called on
Information-Communication Minister Ahn Byong-yub to step down while taking
issue with his alleged perjury in the National Assembly, and policy reversal over the
IMT 2000, a next generation phone service.
``Minister Ahn had pledged at the Assembly inspection that the ministry would
respect the recommendation of the IMT Technology Standardization Council for
the IMT 2000, but it turned out that he merely ignored the council's
recommendation, considering the ministry's final decision on the IMT-2000
technology,'' GNP Rep. Kim Hyong-o charged.
The GNP lawmakers also said the ministry distorted the result of the discussion on
the technology to be used for the IMT 2000, in its alleged bid to adopt the
synchronous mode for the project, instead of the asynchronous mode the industry
now favors.
Rep. Won Hee-ryong claimed that all three bidders favored the asynchronous
system during the meeting of the IMT standardization council and that there was no
deliberation on the frequency allotment, contrary to the ministry's report.
However, the ministry changed its policy over the IMT 2000 on Oct. 20, when it
said it would allot frequency to service providers to make sure that both
asynchronous and synchronous systems are included in the IMT 2000 project.
Won urged the government to allow the bidders to select the technology they
favored in the IMT 2000 project.
Meanwhile, the government has reaffirmed its position during a consultative session
that at least one service provider will have to choose the synchronous system out of
three bidders in the IMT 2000 project.
Those at the session reached an understanding that the government policy toward
the IMT 2000 project should be pursued without flip-flop.
A senior official said that if three bidders _ SK Telecom, Korea Telecom and LG
Telecom _ opt for the asynchronous system, the government would pick one
service provider, which will use the synchronous system and select two providers
using asynchronous system from other contenders, including an unsuccessful
bidder.
Rep. Chung Sye-kyun stressed the need for having a synchronous system.
``Though service providers favor the asynchronous system, we've got to weigh
national interests,'' said Chung. ``We have to take into account efforts and
investments made in developing the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)
technology.
But in an effort to minimize side effects, including a backlash from interested parties
over the selection of successful providers, MDP lawmakers called on the
government to make efforts to sell their logic to the public and offer incentives to
those bidders, which opt for the synchronous system.
``We are considering allowing civic organizations to participate in the selection
process to further enhance transparency and fairness,'' said Rep. Kim
Young-hwan.
ktkim@koreatimes.co.kr
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