This sounds like the subsidies could be broader than just W-CDMA....."wireless data terminals" could refer to 1xEV-DO.
english.chosun.com
Mobile Handset Prices Sink by W200,000
by Kim Hee-sup (fireman@chosun.com)
Consumer prices mobile handsets are to go down by about W100,000 to W200,000 starting this March. Minister Lee Sang-chul of the Ministry of Information and Communication (MOIC) said Sunday that the ministry is to allow mobile service carriers to sell the units below production cost, to further foster the nation's mobile service industry.
The mobile service providers have been requesting that the ministry permit them to sell handsets at a lower cost, which, they said, would be compensated for by service fees from subscribers.
The ministry strictly banned selling the handsets below ex-factory prices, saying that the price competition would disturb the distribution order.
The proposed price cut will not be applicable to all handsets on sale, but the ministry will choose the level of price cut and applicable handset models, the ministry said.
The ministry said that the mobile handsets for IMT-2000 service, due in June in Korea, wireless data terminals, and PDAs would all be permitted to be sold at below-productions prices, in view of advanced technologies these gadgets employ.
In response to the ministry's decision, SK Telecom, the largest mobile carrier in the country, said it welcomed the price cut, as it will enhance the nation's telecommunications market, but KTF and LG Telecom, the two smaller carriers than SK, claimed that the ministry's policy would have to be complemented so that the market leader would not exploit its deeper pockets to increase its market monopoly. |
