KT to Launch Commercial
Services of WiBro in June

Korea becomes the second mobile internet certification country in the world

Internet services on the move will be available from coming June. KT, Korea's biggest fixed-line telecom and WiBro operator, said the company will launch the commercial services of WiBro, or wireless broadband internet in June following trial runs ― for KT employees on March 2 and for the general public in April.
As a result, starting the next half of this year, the general public will be able to enjoy broadband internet services while riding a car running at a speed of 120 km per hour in Seoul and some parts of the Seoul metropolitan area.
A WiBro service was test-operated for 200 KT employees on March 2 under the first phase of the experiment. And a second-phase pilot WiBro service program will be conducted among 3,000 college students and office workers from April, KT officials said. Those who want to experience the upcoming experiment on the WiBro services are required to log on at www.wibro.kt.co.kr to apply for their participation.
Successful applicants will be provided with such gadgets as PDAs for mobile internet and notebook PCs. The pilot service area include a college campus area in Shinchon, the Gangnam area south of the Han River and the Bundang district in Gyeonggi Province and others surrounding an expressway and subway systems connecting Gangnam and Bundang.
KT has installed abut 150 base stations for the pilot service program.

The telecom operator said the commercial service of WiBro will be launched in June in the pilot service area, and the full-fledged service will be expanded to cover the while of Seoul and major cities of the Seoul metropolitan area.
Concerning the pricing system of the new services, KT officials said KT has yet to decide on the issue, adding that a combination of a fixed amount system and the one based on quantity is under consideration.

STOCK TRADING VIA WIBRO ― KT and Samsung Securities Co. has begun to offer a mobile stock transaction service using WiBro since March 2. The stock trading via WiBro is characterized by bigger capacity data processing than the exiting services through handsets or PDAs. For instance, people are able to transact shares while at the same time receiving investment consultations from analysts via voice and image.
Kang Sang-min, deputy general manager at Samsung Securities, said, "A wider use of WiBro handsets would dramatically improve stock trading services via mobile channels and boost trading volume."Samsung Securities will conduct the pilot service program by May and its own monitoring personnel will be employed to check the overall operation of the pilot service. Samsung Securities is the sole local securities company to participate in the pilot WiBro service program.

SECOND CERTIFICATION ― Korea has become the second country to certify mobile internet technologies and handsets thank to the development of the home-grown mobile internet technology, WiBro.
The Ministry of Information and Communication said Telecommunication Technology Association of Korea obtained qualifications for certifying testing for WiBro technologies, handsets and services from the secretariat of the WiMax Forum, working on the global standards of mobile internet. So far, CETECOM of Italy has been served as the sole institution specializing in certificating mobile internet testing.
Domestic manufacturers'having their products certified in Korea is likely to shorten a testing period and reduce costs. nw

KT President-CEO Nam Joong-soo