Uphill Battle for 3G Mobile Service

13th December 2002 by By Kim Deok-hyun of Korea Times

SK Telecom, the nation's largest mobile carrier, is bracing for an uphill battle in its much-trumpeted debut of a next-generation mobile phone.
Last February, the company launched commercial service of what it claimed was third-generation (3G) mobile service amid great fanfare, offering customers high-speed Internet access and videoconferencing on their mobile phones.

Inset 2 SK Telcom staff demonstrating 3G mobiles earlier in 2002.

But the service has been proved to be a great disappointment.

Through the next-generation cell phone service, known as CDMA2000 1X EV-DO (evolution data optimized) that can relay high-speed video and other data, the company said it hoped to attract 500,000 domestic subscribers by the end of this year.

However, the EV-DO service, which is available in 23 major cities nationwide, hasn¡¯t caught on as quickly as the company had hoped.

At the end of November, SK Telecom had attracted only 15,000 people to its next-generation mobile phone _ far below its target. The surprisingly lukewarm response clouded the company's ambitious 3G plan.

``Because of continued delay in EV-DO handset shipments, we are unable to attract new customers for the service,'' said a senior SK Telecom executive.

``We believe it will have minimal impact on our earnings,¡¯¡¯ he stated.

For the third quarter, SK Telecom reported 717 billion, up from 699 billion won in the previous quarter. Its sales rose to 2.22 trillion won from 2.11 trillion won in the second quarter on higher subscriber numbers and increased use of data transmission services.

``The wireless communications market will continue to achieve a higher growth rate, thanks to the explosive demand for data communications services,'' he said.

To boost sluggish customer demand, SK Telecom launched a pricey ad campaign under the brand name of ``June¡¯¡¯ last August.

Instead of heralding what the EV-DO is, the company¡¯s new ad strategy has focused on what customers can do with the new technology.

Industry observers have also questioned the company¡¯s two-pronged 3G plans. In December 2000, SK Telecom was awarded another 3G license based on a Europe-based wideband-CDMA technology, also widely known as IMT-2000 here, for 1.3 trillion won.

The company's 3G unit, named SK IMT, is preparing to launch a commercial operation of the 3G phone next September.

SK IMT is in the process of selecting a prime equipment vendor for the commercial launch. According to the company officials, it will finalize the first contract worth 200 billion won this month.

Prior to the commercial roll-out, SK IMT is expected to merge with its parent company, SK Telecom.

Total mobile subscriptions in Korea reached 32 million at the end of November and penetration rates increased to more than 66 percent of the total population.

By Kim Deok-hyun of Korea Times

TODAY'S PRESS RELEASES

Vodafone UK has chosen Redknee Inc. to supply a comprehensive prepaid data solution for enabling GPRS services, including WAP and MMS content.

The new OMAPI Standard provides the Open Mobile Application Processor Interfaces for application processors targeting 2.5G and 3G mobile phones, PDAs and other portable and multimedia products.

QUALCOMM and LG Electronic announced the selection of the QUALCOMM MSM6200(TM) Mobile Station Modem (MSM(TM)) chipset and system software for LG's dual-mode third-generation (3G) handsets.

SK Telecom, the nation's largest mobile carrier, is bracing for an uphill battle in its much-trumpeted debut of a next-generation mobile phone.

The availability of both low-power and high-quality MPEG-4 aacPlus implementations enables the standard to run on the widest possible range of processors for mobile and portable device applications. Such a range is critical in the adoption of MPEG-4 aacPlus in 2.5G and 3G audio distribution markets.

Hutchison 3G UK Limited and phones 4u announced that phones 4u will be a major retail partner when Hutchison 3G UK begins rolling out third-generation mobile multimedia and communications services under the 3 brand.

Apple's QuickTime application is in pole position to take advantage of the 3G mobile phone market. Apple plan to support 3GPP via the MPEG-4 video standard. This, of course, is based on Apple's QuickTime.

Hutchison 3G UK Limited announced that Hugh Symons Group and Avenir Telecom UK have been appointed as distributors for Hutchison 3G UK Limited

This deployment means Telecom One now has the largest operator independent WAP gateway operating in the UK. This additional capacity will enable Telecom One to distribute mobile content on a mass market scale.

Cambridge Silicon Radio ( CSR ) has announced a further device in its BlueCore2 series of single-chip Bluetooth(TM) solutions for low cost, high-volume applications.

Aspiro has signed an agreement with the British based mobile operator mmO2 to supply 41mobile applications to all markets served by O2, including more than 18 million subscribers.

For the first time UK consumers can purchase news and entertainment streaming video for their mobiles Oplayo launched the first ever network independent consumer-facing mobile video service

LG Electronics is increasing its stature in the Asian mobile handset market with products that deliver the entire core cutting-edge functionalities including color screen, camera, and streaming video capabilities.

These new capabilities enable the ASB to serve as the Application Server for 3G mobile networks, enabling cost-effective, efficient deployment of IP multimedia services over both mobile as well as fixed-line networks.

DoCoMo Systems based in Tokyo Japan has launched a 3G FOMA driven remote monitoring system. The system is likely to be branded mWatch and allows users to view and control video cameras from their 3G enabled mobile phones.

Texas Instruments and MontaVista Software announced that they will work together to provide an embedded Linux platform for OMAP application processors to target 2.5G and 3G handsets

The Modular Cell 4.0 is the highest-capacity base station ever introduced by Lucent, and more than 70 percent of its hardware is common to Lucent's 3G UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) base stations.