4G Now

Discussions on WiBro-Cellular Handover Scenario Taking Place

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) said that it held working group meetings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.21 on standardization of seamless mobile service from June 13-15 in Korea. The meeting was participated by standardization organizations and major players in the industry from the U.S., Japan, Canada and Singapore to finalize the first draft specification version for Media Independent Handover(MIH) protocols and seamless handover scenario, said the ETRI.
 
The IEEE 802.21 working group currently is conducting standardization of the MIH to ensure seamless mobile services between cellular, WiFi, and WiBro networks.
 
The ETRI said, “The meeting was held at a critical juncture before the sponsor ballot in July 2007. Participants gave the final touch to the MIH during the meeting.”

WiBro Interacts with Mobile TV

KT, Korea’s WiBro service provider, today announced “WiBro-T-DMB two-way service” where TV viewers can participate in TV programs through WiBro networks. KT collaborated with U1 Media, a terrestrial DMB provider for the service, to launch the interactive service. The two-way service allows TV viewers to send their messages to TV programs through WiBro devices or USB modems enabling mobile TV service. When viewers send messages, computers linked to broadcasting network display the messages in real time on the bottom of TV screen, said KT.
 
U1 Media starts the service first for the program titled “U1 Show Dosirak”. People can press button on the left bottom of their mobile TV screen to send their messages that would be shown on the bottom of the screen in real time. Service fee is 200 won per messages with the first message being sent for free.
 
KT said, “The two way service is the beginning of a series of mobile TV services linked to converged service of broadcasting and telecommunications.”

Standard for Interoperability among WCDMA, CDMA, WiBro Set by Yearend

Technology standardization for interoperability among WCDMA, WiBro and CDMA2000 will be completed by the end of this year, according to Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA). The decision was made during the 3GPP meeting and workshop held from May 28 to June 7 in Busan.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project meeting also allowed handset makers to produce mobile phones rendering connection between next generation WCDMA and WiBro so that users can enjoy the different services on a single device, said TTA.

The Radio Access Networking Group meeting under 3GPP decided to develop LTE specification for next-generation WCDMA realizing 50Mbps for upward and 100 Mbps for download transmission by the yearend. Accordingly, current transmission speed of 10Mbps by WCMDA will be enhanced by 10 times, explained TTA.  

On operators’ request, the meeting selected measurement standard tasks for evaluation of LTE base-station.

Meanwhile, the 3GPP TSG-SA meeting for development of service specification decided to work on standardization of common IMS providing voice, data and multimedia by applying Internet protocol to WCDMA network. Besides, TISPAN (Telecoms & Internet converged Services & Protocols for Advanced Networks) project will be transferred from ETSI to 3GPP in July. TTA expects the transfer will push ahead the standardization issue onto the global agenda and expedite fixedline-mobile convergence.

Sprint Nextel Signs a Contract with a Korean Start-up for Mobile WiMAX Solution

Sprint Nextel signed a master purchase agreement with KMW, giving the Korean start-up the rights to provide electronic beam-controlling antenna, open-air filter-amplifier and controller for Mobile WiMAX, announced the Korean communication system provider.

KMW expects it will supply products for 3,000 test base-stations to be constructed this year, as the only company that passed Sprint’s quality evaluation for Mobile WiMAX solutions conducted from May. Sprint Nextel will install 50,000 base stations worth of $350 million for the next three years and give orders to several providers including KMW to the , according Korean start-up.

As an official partner of Sprint Nextel, KMW will be acknowledged as a world-class WiBro technology developer and obtain advanced development technology and production skill, and thereby gain strong advantages in WiBro solution business.    

Earlier in June, KMW started shipment of base-station components for NTT DoCoMo’s WCDMA and KDDI’s cdma2000 1x EV-DO. OA-RA for NTT DoCoMo converts 800MHz frequency for the use of WCMDA and Rx TTA for KDDI is for 2.1GHz EV-DO, according to KMW.

KT, Toshiba Jointly Market WiBro

KT and Toshiba join forces to boost WiBro. Toshiba Korea announced the launch of joint marketing with KT and promotion campaign for notebook computers to achieve success in the WiBro market and improve customer satisfaction.  

Those who subscribe to KT WiBro service during the promotion period will be entitled to discount on Toshiba Satellite A200 Onyx Blue (PSAF0K-05F016) and Portege M500(PPM50K-0EN029), according to Toshiba. Portable WiBro USB modem is also presented as a supplement to serve the needs of businessmen and students who frequently use laptop computers, added the company.

Meanwhile, KT launched two types of USB modems for WiBro-enabled devices. KWM-U1000 is a small portable modem and KWD-U1100 is versatile modem compatible with T-DMB providing access to DMB and WiBro simultaneously, acceding to KT.

KT said, "WiBro USB modems will allow laptop users to enjoy WiBro service at reasonable prices, and thereby advance the Mobile 2.0-era.”

WiBro Awaits ITU-R Decision on 3G Global Standard

Commercialized in Korea earlier than any other part of the world, WiBro awaits the ITU decision on the 3G global standard upcoming this month.

Unlike CDMA and WCDMA, Mobile WiMAX based on wireless IP network supports Internet access on the move and accommodates a large number of subscribers on minimum investment, which strengthens the prospects of WiBro as the global standard, according to the Ministry of Information and Communication of Korea.

After the 22nd Meeting of ITU-R Working Party 8F held in May in Kyoto, Japan, forwarded the proposal to include IP-OFDMA (Mobile-WiMAX/WiBro) in the existing IMT-2000 standard for approval, WiBro made a big stride to the wider world, explained the Korean information ministry. The final decision will be made at the meeting of SG8, a higher decision-making body than WP8F within ITU-R.

The Korean ministry expects the inclusion of IP-OFDMA in IMT-2000 will boost the use of WiBro and enhance Korea’s leadership in the next generation mobile technology.

The ministry also said ITU World Radio Communication Conference 2007 (WRC-07) in October will fix the 4G frequency allocation. The global standard for IMT-Advanced will be selected by the end of 2010 among candidate-technologies proposed by member countries by July 2009.   

KT Launches WiBro Video Call Service

KT, Korea’s biggest telecom service provider, announced that video call service would be added to its WiBro Communicator service. KT said that subscribers to WiBro Communicator can use text messaging, instant messaging, voice calls and video calls as a whole package.

Messaging between WiBro subscribers is free while 25 won is charged per text message to wired phone or mobile phone. KT said that its messaging service is cheaper than that of mobile service providers.
 
The video call service will be available only between WiBro subscribers for the time being. KT said that, to cater to customer needs and market environment, the service would possibly be made available between WiBro subscribers and wired phone or mobile phone users in the future.

WiBro transmits video data at 192Kbps on broadband networks, three times faster than on mobile networks, to ensure decent video quality, said KT.