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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ramsey Su who wrote (5497)	12/15/2000 8:52:37 AM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197207

<< anything that will prevent LG from coming back with a cdma2000 bid? >> SK, Korea Telecom Win Licenses for IMT-2000; LG Glocom Fails Korea Times Nho Joon-hun 12/15/2000 Consortiums led by SK Telecom and Korea Telecom yesterday won licenses for the next generation IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunication) services based on the asynchronous platform. LG Glocom, a consortium led by LG Electronics, which had been in close competition till the end, lost out by less than one point out of 100 to Korea Telecom. Korea IMT-2000, the only consortium led by Hanaro Telecom that had sought to provide services using synchronous technologies, also failed to win a license by not making the necessary grade. In a much-awaited announcement yesterday, Information and Communication Minister Ahn Byung-yob said the decision was based on fair assessments by an impartial panel of judges. ``Under the guideline for selecting the licensees for IMT-2000 services, the consortiums led by SK and Korea Telecom have been chosen for econometric and non-econometric superiority,'' he said. Ahn expressed disappointment at the fact that the synchronous license was not awarded, and said his ministry will move quickly under the prescribed timetable to do so by next March. The evaluations by the panel of 18 judges, which included accountants, professors and other industry experts, showed SK-IMT (tentative names for the SK consortium) ahead with 84.018 points out of a possible 102. The judges awarded 81.860 points to KT-IMT and 80.880 to LG Glocom, leaving them less than a point apart, with Korea IMT-2000 coming up way short with just 56.412 points. All four applicants proposed that they pay the full 1.3 trillion won in a one-time contribution for securing the frequency to operate the IMT-2000 services, giving them an additional 2 points. Both SK-IMT and KT-IMT immediately sent out press releases, saying that they are committed to providing the best possible contents and other services in a timely manner. Hanaro and LG failed to disguise their disappointment, and Hanaro said it will put together a more productive and competitive consortium to continue seeking the license for the synchronous mode. ``We are leaving the option of forming a consortium with LG open, but we are determined to continue our bid for the license,'' said one senior Hanaro publicist following the announcement. Under the government plan, applicants can file their business proposals for the synchronous license until the end of January next year, after which it will set up another panel of judges to evaluate the applications through February. The awarding of the three licenses had become complicated after the government insisted that at least one of them be a provider of synchronous services using code division multiple access (CDMA) technologies, which are the standard in the United States. Despite such insistence, SK, KT and LG all opted for the asynchronous mode, that is wideband CDMA common in Europe, with Korea IMT-2000 making a last-minute bid as the lone applicant for the synchronous platform. While the awarding of the license has been somewhat delayed, both SK-IMT and KT-IMT said they will have commercial services up and running before the World Cup in 2002. The two companies will now proceed to make the 1.3 trillion won payment to the government by March, secure the formal licenses in the following month and proceed with the development of related technologies and the installation of the necessary equipment. - Eric -