Mobile in Korea

   There are two kinds of DMB(Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) services in Korea. Satellite DMB service which is provided by TU media was launched on May. 1, 2005 and territorial DMB service was launched on Dec. 1, 2005. Even if S-DMB (Satellite DMB) was launched earlier than T-DMB (Territorial DMB), S-DMB has been in trouble for a long time because S-DMB is a charged service, but T-DMB is a free service. The monthly tariff of S-DMB is about $11. The free DMB service, T-DMB has attracted over 10 mil users until June of 2008. However, the number of S-DMB subscribers was only 1.3 mil until June of 2008.

   Since June, the number of S-DMB subscribers is increasing at fast rate. TU media attracted new 220,000 subscribers for 3 months since June. Because TU attracted only 40,000 subscribers between Jan. and May, the number of new subscribers between June and Aug. is very surprising result. There are two reasons for the growth of subscriber number.

   First, TU started a price discount promotion based on the partnership with SK Telecom. The regular price of S-DMB is $11 per month. However, if a subscriber of SK telecom subscribes S-DMB service of TU, the subscriber get $6 discount benefit every month. The subscribers of SK telecom can use S-DMB service with only $5 a month. Because TU media is 100% subsidiary company of SK Telecom, SK Telecom decided to provide user benefit in order to retain and acquire customers for TU media.

   Second, 2008 Beijing Olympic Effect. The time difference between Beijing and Seoul is only one hour. Most of olympic games are on-air during working hours of most people. People who want to watch olympic games used DMB services such as S-DMB and T-DMB. Befor Beijing Olympic, even if many people have handsets which have S-DMB function, they did not subscribe DMB service. However, many people subscribed S-DMB service during the last Beijing Olympic.

   The subscriber number of S-DMB surpassed 1.5 mil this month and there are still 13 mil T-DMB users in Korea.

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   I posted 'Catalyst for Growth of SMS Usage' in last April. I found an interesting article regarding the post.

   Recently, K Research, a research firm specialized in IT & mobile, conducted a survey about SMS usage patterns of Korean people. There was a question about how to use SMS and very interesting result was identified. The question is "How do you send SMS?" You guys might think that most of people send SMS using mobile handsets. HOWEVER, 40 percent of Korean people use instant messenger for sending SMS.

   Most of young people under 29 years old prefer mobile handset to instant messenger to send SMS. Because they usually stay in school or enjoy wlaking on street. However, many people over 30 years old use instant messenger such as NateOn for sending SMS. Those people usually stay in office and work in front of computer. When they get a message or want to send a message, it is very convenient to use the instant messenger on computer.

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   SK Telecom announced that a new price discount program for middle and high school students as well as college students. Students will pay 50 percent of regular price when they make a call to other students who are attend same school. Students should call to the customer center of SK Telecom and register the name of their school. After registering the name of school, they can save money whenever calling to friends in same school.

   Moreover, this discount program is applied simultaneously and together with other discount programs. For instance, most of college students are getting a discount benefit for using mobile phone in a specific region. If a student thinks that he usually use mobile voice services near his college, he can register the region and get discount benefits when using mobile services in the region.

   From August 4th, students can get discount benefits from both price discount among friends in same school and price discount in a specific region. If a student call to his friend in the campus, he only pays abount 0.5 cents per 10 seconds. The regular price is 2 cents per 10 seconds.

   Although SK Telecom is a market leader and expect to attract many new students to its customers, KTF and LG Telecom announced that they did not prepared simmilar program in order to react SK Telecom's strategy.

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   Korea Communication Commision requested in-depth research about voice service on WiBro to Korea Information Society Development Institute. WiBro was commercialized by KT and SKT in 2006, but WiBro was permitted for only data service, not voice service. Because voice service can not be provided on WiBro, call number for each WiBro device is not necessary until now.

   However, because KISDI started to investigate the long-term effects to the telecom industry of Korea if voice service is allowed on WiBro, new competition might be started on mobile industry of Korea. Real mobile services, including voice and data services, are only provided by mobile operators such as SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom. If voice service on WiBro is possible, KT can participate in the competition. KT has steadily insisted that voice service on WiBro be provided.
 
   If Korean Government permits the voice service on WiBro, will KT and SK Telecom start the service? I think it is not sure. There are two reasons.

   First, COVERAGE of WiBro!! Even if KT and SK Telecom commercialized WiBro service in 2006, the services only cover Seoul and near areas of Seoul. In addition, WiBro is well operated outdoor only. Indoor, the signal of WiBro is very weak. KT and SK Telecom should invest much money to strengthen the network coverage. Because the penetration rate of mobile voice service in Korea is already over 90 percent, it is not sure whether the operators make the huge investment on WiBro.

   Second, the merge of KT and KTF is expected within near future. Even if KT promotes WiBro service aggressively and wants voice service on WiBro in order to strengthen WiBro service now, KT might lose the driving force for voice service on WiBro after merging KTF. KT can provide mobile voice service through KTF without voice service on WiBro.

   I am wondering how KISDI will make the final decision about the voice service on WiBro. I will make a posting after announcement of the decision.

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   I made a posting about LGT's full browsing service, OZ. Yesterday, LGT launched new price packages which enable customers to use OZ service freely. The below article about the news was provided by Digital Daily.

   LG Telecom, LGT, from August 1st, launches 3 ‘OZ free airtime rate’ packages to promote 3G OZ service, enabling subscribers to surf the internet via their handsets. The new rate packages allow subscribers to connect to the internet without additional charges and provide discount from 140,000 up to 240,000 based on each tariff regime.
  
   The basic rate of ‘6 hour Free OZ service‘ is 510,000 won per month, but subscribers only pay 37,000 won with 14,000 won price cut. Subscribers to 8 hour OZ free and the 13 hour tariff regimes get 19,000 won and 24,000 won discount from 61,000 won and 81,000 won respectively.

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   SK Telecom released a new mobile service which is the first mobile mash-up service in Korea. My Portal service enables users to make their own mobile homepages with various such as opened news articles of Google and their own blog postings. For example, most of contents on web are made based on XML language and support RSS function which makes contents to be provided on various devices and applications. When users make a mobile home page using My Portal service, they can gather various contents from Internet.

   I also made my mobile homepage using My Portal service. I could take my blog postings to the homepage using RSS function and post some news article of Naver (the most famous web portal in Korea) regarding mobile services. Because most of current web services provide provided Open API, people can make a mobile mash-up homepages using various contents from many web sites.

   In the initial stage, some famous idol stars made their own mobile homepages on My Portal service and are attracting their fans to the pages. In addition, some companies can make their own mobile homepages for promotion of their products and companies. The below image shows mobile homepage of a famous korean star.

   There are two methods for users to connect  to My Portal service with their mobile handsets. The first one is to push only '479 + send button'. Users can connect to the initial page of My Portal service and see well categorized list of mobile homepages, including famous stars' homepages and ordinary people's. The second methos is to push 'phone numbers + # + send button'. If users know someone's phone number and want to connect to his or her mobile homepages, they only push the phone numbers in order to connect to the homepages.

   SK Telecom started to promote the service through TV commercial. TV commercial emphasizes that users can make their own mobile homepages. If users want to use mobile internet service with their mobile handsets, they had to connect to the initial page which mobile operators provide. However, if users make their own mobile homepages using My Portal service, they can enjoy their own initial mobile services which include contents selected by each user. The below is the TV commercial for My Portal service.

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