4G Now

Here Comes 4G...

The 4th generation mobile communication service or 4G arouses hopes throughout the mobile industry. Service providers see the 4G as an opportunity to earn more from data revenues, expand their business into fixedline-mobile convergence and collaborate with other industry sectors. Manufacturers expect they can sell new devices by taking advantage of this paradigm change. Then what good will 4G do for consumers?

In a recent report, LG Economic Research Institute remarks while the 3G marked the very arrival of a variety of data services, the 4G will bring the data services to a degree of perfection. For instance, 100 Mbps speed that is only possible over fixedline broadband as of now will be achieved by wireless internet, which makes a wide range of revolutionary services a reality.

One of those “dream” service is mobile internet telephony. Unlike conventional mobile network, there is no exclusive voice network for 4G and 4G voice service uses the internet. The 4G internet phone is a packet-switched service that costs less than circuit switched conventional mobile telephony. Accordingly, consumers can expect cheaper plans in 4G, the report says. 

IPTV is also likely to go mobile. Presently, the fixedline high-definition IPTV service requires 100Mbps-grade internet access that 4G technologies can meet. The mobile IPTV can provide far more channels and more diverse interactive services than fixedline IPTV.

According to LGERIE, 4G is capable of large-scale content delivery, which will encourage the development of various services. For instance, high-definition images will be useful for health-care service, network games or home-networking.

Mobile web surfing, mobile access to fixedline web and video phone that arrived with the advent of 3G will come into wider use in the 4G era. Mobile web surfing will become more user-friendly, while a dramatic change will occur in the internet access over mobile network. Video phone will overcome major imperfections caused by technology limitations of 3G such as frequent disruptions and poor picture quality.

However, LGERIE warns 4G services might end up being used for marketing ploys, if they fail in meeting consumers’ expectations and merely overheat competition.

Drawing an example from 3G, the report points out video call, one of the typical 3G services, attracted only few customers and some 3G cell phones were launched without the function. Without new values for consumers, 4G will only cause unnecessary marketing competition, the research institute says.

It is also worrying that the expansion of convergence triggered by 4G might eat into existing telecom market, as the growth of convergence services will cause decline in revenues from fixedline broadband and wireless voice communications.

LG Telecom to Embark on 4G in 2013

LG Telecom, a South Korean CDMA service provider announced its plan to launch a 4G service in 2013 when the carrier will obtain a low-frequency band.

With the Korean government planning to reallocate frequencies next year, LGT hopes to get a low-frequency band such as 800MHz and 900MHz and start investment for a nationwide 4G service which is 3 to 6 times faster in data transmission than 3G. Presently, the company has a spectrum (of a 20MHz bandwidth for both uplink and downlink) in the 1.8GHz band, but additional frequency allocation is necessary from 2011 to cope with increasing subscribers and rising demands for its data service, OZ.

The Korea Communications Commission will take the spectrum in the 800 MHz band from SK Telecom in June 2011. Before the return of the spectrum, the KCC will redistribute it among carriers so that they can establish the network for about 2 years. Of 50MHz frequencies in the 800MHz band that presently belongs to SK Telecom, KTF and LGT can get 10 to 20 MHz frequencies. The two carriers have to divide the spectrum or compete with each other at an auction.

As soon as LGT obtains the low-frequency band, it will choose the most appropriate 4G technology and draw up an investment plan. The choice will be made according to the criteria such as price, security of terminal procurement and roaming convenience. As of now, LTE is more prospective than Mobile WiMAX.  

LG Telecom says network equipment to be installed from next year will have a multimode structure that supports a variety of handsets and technologies ranging from 2G to 4G, which will advance the completion of the nationwide 4G network.

Without CDMA, KTF Gets Stronger in 4G Era

KTF, a South Korean mobile carrier on the right rack from CDMA to WCDMA, is likely to have the upper hand in the 4G competition with SK Telecom.

SK Securities says in a recent report KTF smoothly migrating from CDMA to WCDMA will enjoy even further growth in high-end product sales and healthy customer basis with the advent of 4G.

According to the report, as prospective 4G standards are IP-based wireless data technologies and carriers are not likely to make a radical move toward mobile VoIP which will eat into their revenue, voice communications will be dominated by WCDMA for coming years. Under these circumstances, KTF which has gone bold steps toward WCDMA will gain a competitive edge over other carriers in cell phone procurement for WCDMA and 4G data (LTE or Mobile WiMAX) service which will be common in the 4G era, the securities firm remarks.

The report also says both LTE and WiBro are based on OFDM or Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing and talks about common chipsets are going on. Therefore, the report continues, it is meaningless to distinguish LTE from WiBro and “WCDMA+WiBro” cell phones such as Google Phone will come out next year.

SK Securities forecasts KTF will be affected by 3G impact which actually involves the establishment of 4G and the proportion of marketing cost and CAPEX to service revenue will go down to 26.2% and 10.2%, respectively, by 2010. Dismissing the concern about cannibalization of data revenue as a result of KTF’s using KT WiBro network, the report insists overlap between WCDMA wireless data service focusing on functional applications and WiBro centering on web access will hardly become an issue and the impact, if any, on revenue will be insignificant.

Korea's Wireless Channel Model Adopted as a 4G Standard

The elements that condition Korea’s wireless communications environment were selected as a 4G standard for the IMT-Advanced wireless channel model, which gives great opportunities for Korean manufacturers in the development, test and verification of the next generation wireless system.

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute of Korea (ETRI) announced ITU WP5D held at Arab Emirates finally accepted the parameter values that represent Korea’s mobile communications environment for the IMT-Advanced wireless channel model. 

A wireless channel model is a mathematical formula represents the changes of a signal in size and phase due to reflection, refraction and dispersion on the way from the transmitter to the receiver.

The ITU meeting acknowledged the elements of urban environment of Asia represented by buildings’ height, construction materials and arrangements in Korea are different from those of Europe, and selected Korea’s data for the standard model, according to ETRI. 

The 4G mobile communications characterized by high-speed, high-efficiency and multi antenna requires multi-antenna wireless channel models for which there is no global standard. The study on channel characteristics for candidate frequencies of the 4G is only in the beginning stage, ETRI explained.

Government to Analyze 4G Technology Patents

Institute for Information Technology Advancement (IITA), a state agency, announced that it would embark on analysis of RFID, 4G technologies, and patents owned by local research centers, SMEs and colleges. IITA said that the work aims to help more research centers and SMEs to develop more proprietary technologies.

Special attention will be given to mobile RFID, WiBro Evolution and LT-Advanced, in which Korea has competitive edge, said IITA.
 
The agency previously focused on studying the extent of rights guaranteed by patents. This time, however, special attention will be given to systematic research, analysis, and evolution of major patents, said IITA. It plans to commission the work for studying home grown standard technologies and patents in early August. The project is expected to be completed by the end of this year. 

Korea to Undertake 5G Development

The Korean government announced that the nation will not only work on 4G but also on 5G in an effort to stay at the head of the race in the global telecom market.

According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Korea set up a vision to become the biggest wireless powerhouse in the world by 2012. It also came up with a plan to start working on 5G as well as invest 60 billion won for the next three years in developing major 4G technologies that could be adopted as international standards. 
 
On regional level, the Korean government envisioned a stronger trilateral collaboration between Korea, China and Japan to increase the region’s influence in adopting international standards.
 
The government said that local mobile phone industry is short of core proprietary technologies, heavily dependent on foreign suppliers for core parts, and losing ground due to one-chip and modulization going mainstream.
 
Also, Korea has weaknesses in pull marketing and production system dominated by big businesses, weak partnership between finished product manufacturers and smaller part suppliers, weak brand power and presence in foreign markets, said the government.
 
The government, however, said that Korea has strengths in infrastructure, customer base, CDMA and WiBro technology, memory, and LCD. Korea could make the most of big local handset manufacturers, a steady growth of global handset industry, sophistication and convergence of handset functions, and consumer needs getting more complicated and diversified, added the government.

Korea, China, Japan Collaborate on 4G Standardization

CJK Meeting on Information and Telecommunication Standards, a trilateral ICT industry association between Korea, China and Japan, gathered in Okinawa, Japan and discussed ways to cooperate in IMT-Advanced, next generation communications networks, network-based RFID and other issues.

In the meeting concluded on April 2, the participants agreed on proposing minimum requirements for the 4G standard which will be decided at ITU-R WP5D meeting in Dubai in June. They also decided to form a special group for IMT-Advanced technology. The Meeting would discuss the proposal in details and finalize it in a meeting to be held in Korea in June. The final proposal co sponsored by the three Northeast Asian countries will be submitted to ITU.
 
Telecommunications and Technology Association (TTA), the Korean participant, said that the agreement is meaningful because it offered an opportunity for the three countries to lead 4G standardization process. In the meantime, 3G standardization was led by the U.S. and European countries.