Mobile in Korea

   Today, The ITU Radio Assembly approved WiBro (Mobile WiMax) as an official IMT-2000 Interface. WiBro became a sixth radio interface of IMT-2000 which has W-CDMA, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, EDGE and DECT.

   Korea is one of leading countries for WiBro (Mobile WiMax). KT already launched the WiBro service early this year and got about 60,000 users until last September. In addition, SK Telecom must invest a lot to WiBro under aggrement with MIC (Ministry of Information and Communication). In addition, there are many WiBro equipment manufacturers including Samsung Electronics, Posdata. Korean government and companies expect that WiBro would be extended to global markets.

   However, there are some barriers that disturb WiBro to be pomoted to usual people. One of barriers is the prohibition of voice calling function on WiBro devices. Korean government granted WiBro license to KT and SK Telecom whth conditions attached that WiBro should be used for only data service, not voice service.

   I am wondering whether Korean government will change the existing rule that WiBro should be used for only data service. WiBro as a standard of IMT-2000 can be used for data & voice service.

   This issue might cause great impact on korean communication market. What is the final conclusion??