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SK Telecom Develops Mobile WiMax Femtocell

SK Telecom, the largest mobile operator in Korea, said that it developed 'Mobile WiMax Business Femtocell' and will launch the service at the end of the year. 
 
Mobile WiMax Business Femtocell is a super-tiny base station that offers wireless high speed Internet by accessing to core network through SK Telecom exclusive network.
 
The femtocell, nicknamed as IB Cell, combined Wave 2 MIMO standard and SK Telecom’s core access technologies to ensure easy installation and use. It improves the clarity of in-building calls significantly thus ensuring high quality WiBro service, said SK Telecom.
 
SK Telecom said that IB Cell can save investment cost for it is super small and super cheap, but shows as good performance as macro base stations. It will be a best-fit in-building solution for next generation networks, said SK Telecom.

KT Unveils WiBro-Based VoIP

KT unveiled its VoIP service over Mobile WiMAX. The telecom operator demonstrated the WiBro-based VoIP for over 100 participants in OECD Ministerial Meeting held from June 17.

For the demonstration, operator received 150 local- and long-distant phone numbers from Korea Communications Commission for Samsung Electronics’ SPH-M8200 with embedded VoIP software, which was handed out to delegates from nations around the world.

KT’s success in the demonstration will back up the argument that voice call service is necessary for boosting WiBro. Among others, the government decision is urgent. The Korean government has yet to approve the issuance of identification numbers for WiBro voice communications. WiBro frequency was allocated for data service only.

There are number of technical problems such as echoing sounds on the receiving part and break-off as the signal reception from existing mobile carriers is not perfect yet. In addition, the coverage limited to large cities is another obstacle to prompt start of WiBro voice service.

SK Telecom Showcases WiBro Wave 2

SK Telecom, the nation's mobile WiMax provider, announced that it succeeded in transmitting and playing HD video in real time using WiBro Wave 2 technology.
 
SK Telecom said the Wave 2 deployed the Multiple Input Multiple Output technology, which is one of the highlights of the 4th generation communication. The Wave 2 can offer up to twice faster data transmission than current services.

In theory, the Wave 2 can provide 37.44Mbps in downlink and 10.08Mbps in uplink. It is equivalent to downloading 4MB MP3 file in 0.85 second and 700MB movie file in two and a half minutes, said SK Telecom.
 
The wireless carrier said that the Wave 2 supports full HD as well as SD and HD. It also enables Internet roaming with overseas providers which are set to launch commercial service based on the Wave 2.
 
SK Telecom said that WiBro Wave 2 network will be established in Seoul, the capital city, in later this year and promote the service in the city and the surrounding area. Once the network is set up, USB modem, small digital devices and new rate plans will be introduced to make the service more affordable than other HSDPA based data communication services, said SK Telecom.
 
SK Telecom currently is providing WiBro service in 56 hot zones in 23 cities across the country. The device used for the service is SCH-H120, and SCH-H130, which also support HSDPA. As many as 1,000 people are subscribed to SK Telecom WiBro service.

Voice Over Mobile WiMAX To Debut Soon

The world's first voice over mobile WiMAX trial service will be introduced in June in Korea.

To attract the world's attention immediately, KT plans to launch the trial service during the OECD Ministerial Meeting period. In November of 2005, KT demonstrated mobile WiMAX trial service at the APEC Summit in Busan, Korea.

The voice communication over the mobile WiMAX service is expected to be a killer application. Due to poor coverage, mobile WiMAX has failed to attract more consumers.

The service is not a technical issue but political. KT stated that "All technical support for the voice communication over the mobile WiMAX is done, we are waiting for the government's decision."

Reportedly, to promote the service, the government will allow voice communication over the mobile WiMAX.

In the meantime, KT is struggling to increase the amount of subscribers, but it secured just 145,000 after the service launched about two years ago. The other operator, SK Telecom, has secured only about 1,000 subscribers since June 2006.

KT Mobile WiMAX, however, added 39,000 subscribers in Q1. The world's first mobile WiMAX operator, KT announced that it had 145,000 subscribers as of end of March. KT mobile WiMAX had 1,200 subscribers in March of 2007 and 106,000 in December of 2007.

During the first quarter of this year, KT recorded earnings of 17.9 billion Korea won with mobile WiMAX business revenue, which is a 5.5% increase over that of the previous quarter.

To attract more customers, KT plans to expand mobile WiMAX services to include navigation, interactive services, and bundle products. Regarding this service coverage expansion, KT plans to complete all of them in-building in Seoul in Q2 and 17 cities in metropolitan areas with full coverage.

WiBro Handover Technology Being Advanced

WiBro service is capable of offering faster data transmission than mobile service. But, subscription to the service has yet been facilitated due to the fact that the coverage is confined to some areas of the country. Regarding to the service, the industry was reported to increasingly be interested in developing dual mode devices that allow the use of multiple wireless communication service on a single device. Among others, it was reported that development of handover technology, which switches to mobile service outside WiBro service area, has been on the rise.
 
The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) said Friday that license applications for handover technology between WiBro and mobile networks had continued to be filed, 19 in 2004, 16 in 2005 and 11 in 2006. Ten of the applications were filed by WiBro related manufacturers, 25 by communications service providers, 10 by research centers and one by the academia, said the KIPO.
 
Most of the patents were about methods to determine handover timing, handover technology using mobile IP and interoperation of mobile phone services.
 
The KIPO said that the key to the handover between WiBro and mobile networks is how to shorten handover time and to build networks allowing the use of mobile service in WiBro network. The KIPO said that the technologies to reduce handover time are crucial because handover between WiBro and mobile network takes a lot of time which can affect the quality of call service. Interoperability between the two service networks is prerequisite to use voice call, SMS and MMS service in WiBro network, too, said the agency.

Posdata, KT Developing IPv6 based WiBro System

Posdata, a computer services business unit of the nation’s top steel maker POSCO, announced the second phase of technology development project to apply IPv6 to WiBro service. It also is working on applying WiBro to the defense ministry’s tactical information communication network (TICN), said Posdata. The company collaborated with such military contractors as LIG Nex1 and Huneed Technologies for the project.
 
Posdata also said that its WiBro business is about to show tangible results in overseas markets. It is now in final negotiations with local mobile operators in Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam to complete tests and provide devices for commercial use in the latter half of this year. As those nations already allocated or will allocate frequency band for commercial WiBro service, WiBro equipment vendors have keen interests, said Posdata.
 
It said, “The interest is not just out of curiosity. The nations have specific roadmaps for commercial service. It will be possible to provide equipment to three or four of the mobile operators in those regions by the end of this year.”

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.”