LG U+ Aims at Being World-Class ‘u-Convergence’ Service Provider

Will offer 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) services for the first time in Korea

LG Telecom has now changed its name to LG U+ and declared its vision of becoming a world-class wireless Internet service provider. Starting in 2012, the telecom service provider will offer 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) services for the first time in Korea to differentiate itself from others. It will focus on convergence IT businesses by building its own network infrastructure in which connectivity is possible at any place and at high speeds. In addition to enabling fixed-to-mobile migrations of Internet applications such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), video streaming, music downloading, mobile TV and many others, LTE networks will also provide the capacity to back up an explosive demand for connectivity from a new generation of consumer devices tailored to those new mobile applications.
LG U+ Vice Chairman Lee Sang-chul announced this at a ceremony to unveil its vision for offering ubiquitous convergence services, including AP Centric Network (CAN) and LTE and at the subsequent meeting with reporters at the Millennium Hilton in Seoul on July 1. Lee said, “The new start of LG U+ is a declaration of a voyage for offering new values that have been never been seen so far. We will be in the front line of restoring our lost standing as an IT powerhouse via u-Convergence services.”
The new vision calls for evolving into the global No. 1 through ubiquitous convergence services for connecting diverse IT gadgets regardless where they are and what terminals they use.
To this end, LG U+ plans to build the CAN, a WiFi network for offering wireless and fixed access points at a speed of 100 megabits per second, the next-generation LTE, a cross-platform service that easily links contents and services and cloud infrastructure.
Unlike its rival telecom providers’ hotspots, the CAN infrastructure will allow users on the move to utilize WiFi APs by expanding the surrounding areas of their homes and offices as hotspot zones.
LG U+ plans to introduce the 802.1x safety certification system, safer against outside attacks than the existing one, and install high-performance Wi-Fi access (802.11n) with improved safety. It decided to expand the number of access points in offices and houses from the current 1.7 million to between 2.5 million and 2.8 million by 2012 in a bid to widen the number of “hot spots” in which anyone can have free access to wireless Internet.
Its smartphone lineup, Galaxy L, being produced by Samsung Electronics, will be released this month, he said. LG U+ has released the OZ Omnia and Optimus Q, and seven to eight more smartphones will be unveiled in the market soon, he said.
The latest move follows LG U+’s extraordinary pricing policy of halving communications costs in what may be a strategy of shaking up the Korean communications industry by offering cheaper communications pricing incentives to attract more subscribers.
Despite a possible drop in average revenue per user, the new pricing system is a desperate attempt designed to reap small profit margins but higher sales, which might send shock waves through the industry. The nation’s third largest telecom service provider earlier combined its sister companies LG Dacom and LG Powercomm and itself into one brand, LG Telecom, the predecessor of LG U+.
Lee himself unveiled the brand-new pricing system at a meeting with reporters at his company headquarters in downtown Seoul on June 15. Under the pricing policy, a cap is placed on all the communication fees on the basis of each clientele family to unify all services including mobile handset, broadband Internet, Internet TV (IPTV), and Internet telephony.
The new system is designed to allow each family of LG customers more communications services for their fees, thus bringing a virtual price discount effect. For instance, a couple who had been previously charged a combined 120,000 won for mobile handset fees monthly, have a fixed bill of 90,000 won even for additional IPTV, Internet telephony, and broadband Internet services instead of the previous 150,000 won.
In this way, clients who subscribe at a cap of 90,000 won for two persons, 120,000 won for three persons and 150,000 won for five persons are entitled to receive services equivalent to ones worth 160,000 won for two persons, 240,000 won for three persons and 300,000 won for five persons, respectively. Each client is free to choose what services he or she wants. Each family that has a combined bill of less than 90,000 won will be charged for the services they actually use. On the other hand, each family that is supposed to be charged a combined 170,000 won beyond the 160,000 won barrier, is required to pay 10,000 won, the cap of 90,000 won plus 10,000 won. nw

LG U+ Vice Chairman Lee Sang-chul