KTF Sets Its Sights on
Preoccupying HSDPA
Service Market

Plans to build up a nationwide network by next March

KTF Co. is attempting to preoccupy the 3.5-G High Speed Downlink Pack Access (HSDPA) service market.
KTF is striving to build a nationwide HSDPA network by the end of next March in a bid to preoccupy the market in competition with its archrival SK Telecom.
KTF President-CEO Cho Young-chu emphasizes that his company is trying to obtain the No. 1 position in terms of market share by preoccupying the 3-G mobile communication service market and raise the average revenue per user (ARPU) by more than 10 percent.
KTF is expected to take on its front-runner on an equal footing by using the same frequency as SK Telecom, he noted. The frequency of KTF's existing 2-G mobile communication service is 1.8 GHz, compared to SK Telecom's 800 MHz. However, KTF and SK Telecom use the same frequency for the 3-G mobile communication service.
Korea's second largest mobile operator launched the commercialization service of HSDPA in the late June i2006 to cover 50 major cities across the nation.
It has already built up HSDPA network in 84 cities as of the end of September, with the coverage scope of the HSDPA service likely to increase to 84 cities by the end of this year.
KTF has a strategy of completing the nationwide HSDPA network with an equivalent of CDMA communication service and transforming it into High Speed Uplink Pack Access (HSUPA), an upgraded HSDPA version with improved upload transmission speed.
In this regard, KTF plans to double facility investments into HSDPA from 350 billion won to 700 billion won during 2006. An additional 400 billion won or more will likely to be poured for the completion of the HSDPA network for next year.
The mobile operator plans to unveil a few Single Band Single
Mode (SBSM) handsets, considered to compete with CDNA handsets.
The current two HSDPA handsets, put on the market, are Double Band Double Mode (DBDM), rated to be inferior compared to CDMA ones in terms of size, service and price. Diverse types of SBSM handsets are scheduled to be introduced to the market from coming December until next March when the nationwide network is complete. The handset lineup will shift to a HSDPA mode after the completion of the nationwide HSDPA network. The mobile operator plans to put on the market HSUPA handsets in order to upgrade both download and upload transmission speed a step higher.
KTF CEO Cho has declared on-site management, saying he will work together with his staff in the fields of marketing and network in a bid to invigorate the HSDPA market. He expressed the hope his company would focus on global roaming and alliance through the global network of the GSM Association.
KTF has another competitive edge as it maintains strategic alliance with the world's biggest WCDMA operator, NTT DoCoMo and has experiences and know-how on the operation of high-frequency network.
Dubbed "World Phone View,"KTF's brand-new service is available at home and abroad through global roaming.
Korea's second largest telecom operator announced the commercialization of the HSDPA service in 50 major cities, including Seoul and six other metropolitan cities, across the nation on June 30. The initial coverage of the 3.5-G service accounts for about 80 percent of the population.
KTF simultaneously unveiled two HSDPA handsets SPH-W2100, produced by Samsung Electronics and LG-KH1000, made by LG Electronics.
The HSDPA technology is likely to dominate the global mobile telecommunication market in the future, which will offer diverse handsets and services at cheaper rates, industrial analysts say. The commercialized JSDPA, an advanced technology ahead of the existing 3-G WCDMA, not only allows visual communication but also high-speed, high-quality mobile Internet connection, so it will emerge as KTF's next-generation mainstay network.
Global roaming for the HSDPA service together with the WCDMA service will be expanded to include 25 countries in Asia and European regions, including Japan, Singapore and Australia by the end of the year. KTF plans to offer global roaming service to the GSM service area where HSDPA has yet to be commercialized, brining to 90 the number of countries where such services as voice, image, SMS, MMS and mobile data are available. The Korean telecom operator is expanding the global HSDPA roaming service coverage area and developing differentiated services for exclusive use abroad in cooperation with Japan's NTT DoCoMo.
The HSDPA handsets allow the existing CDMA service in non-HSDPA coverage areas. In particular, SPH-W2100, 21.1 mm thick as slim as existing brands, is designed for providing terrestrial DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting) and other diverse services, while LG-KH1000, with such functions as duo slide are more for visual communication and visual chatting using Bluetooth. nw

(from left) KTF has won the ISO20000 certification on all IT services. KTF CEO Cho Young-chu