ORR Technology, LLC

South Korea prepares for WiBro Wave 2

First and fastest is not enough for broadband-savvy South Korea. The country’s WiBro service, based on 802.16e-2005 mobile WiMAX, is preparing for a boost in performance later this year that is expected to keep the service at the leading edge of mobile broadband. WiBro services first launched in mid-2006 as three operators sought to translate the experience of home and office broadband services to anytime and anywhere (called 4G). The networks are considered the first case study for the mobile WiMAX movement.

Two years after the first commercial services were launched, it’s still debated if WiBro is a success or not. Hanaro Telecom, one of the original license holders, surrendered its spectrum allocation leaving Korea Telecom (KT) and SK Telecom as the lone providers. SK Telecom focused initial network coverage in subsets of the metropolitan Seoul market, such as college campuses. This resulted in an uptake of only 2,000 subscribers. KT has had a more ambitious plan of blanketing Seoul in WiBro then expanding along the motorways and mass transit routes. Subscribers for WiBro today have surpassed 200,000 users, which pale in comparison to Korea’s mobile phone users or wired broadband customer base. Industry executives point out that WiBro is experiencing a faster rate of adoption in Korea than the cellular W-CDMA protocol did on its two-year anniversary.

More about the WiBro service and WiMAX Forum certification profiles can be found at WiMax.com