Handsets key to South Korea's HSDPA launch plans

摘要

Leading south korean operators SK Teleco and KTF signed an agreement July 12 with Korea's Ministry of Communications (MIC) to launch HSDPA services in March. But both operators have expressed concerns about whether a range of HSDPA handsets will be available in time for the launch. The commercial launch of HSDPA services is expected to boost demand for 3G services after the disappointing take-up of the operators' WCDMA offerings. Both SKT and KTF introduced WCDMA in December 2003, but poor coverage and weak handset portfolios stifled progress of the offerings, and the operators had only about 3,080 WCDMA subscribers be- tween them at end-June. The initial target was for 250,000 WCDMA subscribers by year-end. "The WCDMA Release 4 network won't be able to absorb the rapid mass-market take-up of mobile killer applications," said an optimistic Kim Dong-Soo, a senior official of the MIC's IT promotion division. "We've agreed with carriers to launch WCDMA networks enhanced with HSDPA, which is expected to be a mainstream option in the 3G evolution for the next three or five years."