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SK Telecom plans for upgraded WiBro network
South Korea’s #2 WiMAX carrier announces plans to invest in mobile broadband network.
Network operator SK Telecom (SKT) announced plans to roll out an updated Mobile WiMAX network for its WiBro wireless broadband service in South Korea. The revision will incorporate infrastructure and devices based on Wave 2 certification requirements from WiMAX Forum.
SKT and KT are the country's two licensed WiBro operators. KT took an early lead in WiBro subscribers by deploying service across all of Seoul and extending coverage to surrounding motorways. The effort has netted the provider more than 200,000 users. SKT lit only limited areas, resulting in a measly 1,000 subscribers over the first year.
Wave 2 certified 802.16e-2005 products incorporate smart antenna technologies to improve signal reception and overall network performance. Antennas have undergone a significant transformation in the last five years for mobile communications networks. Modern systems incorporate multiple transmit and receive chains, called MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) along with a signal processing technique called beamforming used to direct the transmission or reception of radio signals. For subscribers, this means mobile broadband coverage in more places and better performance.
SKT tests showed real-time streaming of high-definition (HD) video is feasible with the Wave 2 kit. The use of Wave 2 radios increases downlink speeds to beyond 35 Mbps and uplink speeds to 10 Mbps. In practical deployment scenarios, consumers can expect downlink performance in the 2-4 Mbps range per device. South Korea has one of the highest rates for broadband adoption and performance. Downlink DSL speeds of 8-10 Mbps are considered low-end and low-cost. As a result, multi-megabit speeds for mobile applications are expected to be higher in South Korea than other parts of the world.
Metropolitan Seoul will be SKT's target with service launch during the second half of 2008. Customers will be enticed to subscribe through lower fees than the original SKT WiBro service.
By Jeff Orr
ORR Technology, LLC
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