By Kim Tae-gyu Staff Reporter The fierce competition to deploy locally developed mobile Internet, called WiBro, began Monday as candidates started to apply to the government for the threebusiness licenses. Hanaro Telecom, the nation’s second-largest landline firm, moved fastest by submitting its application early yesterday morning to the Ministry of Informationand Communication (MIC). KT, the top fixed-line player, and SK Telecom, the foremost mobile operator, are also expected to throw their hats into the ring before the deadline of Dec. 3. The three operators are likely to obtain the WiBro licenses as another contender, Dacom, drew back from the race late last month to channel its corporate energy into taking over Thrunet, the troubled high-speed Internet outfit. The fees for the seven-year licenses will be set somewhere between 117 billionwon to 128.5 billion won depending on the specific schemes presented to the government. The MIC plans to issue the licenses next February and the long-awaited commercial launch of the service is expected for the first half of 2006. WiBro, formerly known as 2.3GHz portable Internet, enables people on the move to remain connected to the Internet at the speed of current fixed-line broadband. The upcoming service promises a downlink transmission speed of around 1 Mbps (mega bits per second), several times faster than the current norm, and mobile reception at up to 60 kilometers per hour. Distinctive Strategies The three hopefuls are now poised to forge ahead with distinctive tactics mainly depending on their business portfolios and network availability. KT seems to have developed the most aggressive investment plan as the former state monopoly looks to shell out up to 1 trillion won for WiBro over the next five years. The giant’s blueprint also seeks to take full advantage of its wireless localarea network (LAN), dubbed Wi-Fi, in inside areas, where WiBro services might be blocked. KT has set up approximately 15,000 wireless LAN access points across the nation, which enable people to connect to the Internet at a maximum speed of 11Mbps.From this month, the firm started to further upgrade its services, offeringa speed of up to 54 Mbps with an average throughput of 25 Mbps. In comparison, SK Telecom strives to mix WiBro with its satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), of which commercial service is slated for early nextyear. Satellite DMB allows people on the go to savor seamless video, CD-quality audioand data through handheld gadgets like handsets or via in-car devices. ``We will develop a terminal that combines both WiBro and satellite DMB and wewill enrich contents on the back of our experience in the wireless data business,’’ an SK Telecom official said. To counter KT’s policy of using W-LAN, the official added SK Telecom would find an alternative way to enhance the efficiency of WiBro in shadow areas like inside buildings. Hanaro Telecom, the smaller player of the three, is looking to sharpen its competitive edge by creating business alliances with several related entities. For instance, Hanaro has agreed to share 451 base stations with KRTnet, a company that exclusively holds and operates base stations in military facilities andremote rural areas. Analysts expect Hanaro will save a substantial amount of cash through the dealbecause the firm will be able to slash investment on developing infrastructure. Mixed Evaluation on WiBro Outlook Based on a grandiose roadmap and the telecom carriers’ buoyant investment plans, the MIC is optimistic about the future outlook for WiBro. According to the Korea Information Strategy Development Institute (KISDI), theWiBro service is forecast to attract as many as 9.3 million subscribers by 2011. The MIC-affiliated agency also predicted the new offerings would generate related productions worth 6.1 trillion won and 3.1 trillion won in added value by the same date. Despite the government’s rosy predictions, however, WiBro is receiving mixed evaluations. In a recent survey by the MIC, around half of the respondents said they would utilize the Internet via cell phones and 30 percent opted for notebooks, with the remainder preferring personal digital assistants (PDAs). Yet WiBro services via cell phones are unlikely to be possible in 2006, hurtingits commercial viability. ``We don’t think the WiBro service will be possible with cell phones in 2006.Although it will be possible technology-wise, it will not be plausible from aneconomic viewpoint,’’ MIC director Kim Yong-soo said. Kim expected the voice-over-Internet protocol of WiBro would be available someyears after the initial introduction, which means the advent of cell phone-typeWiBro terminals will also be delayed. Another downside is WiBro is not a global standard, which limits its potentialin becoming a mainstream standard for mobile broadband. ``WiBro should make inroads into the global market to become a real winner as alternative mobile broadband technologies start to mushroom across the world,’’ a Seoul analyst said. Toward this end, the government scrapped its indigenous standard called high-speed portable Internet (HPi) early this year, as it presented barriers to non-Korean developers and manufacturers, and agreed to use the world standard. It remains to be seen whether WiBro will make it as a global standard or whether the service will join the list of failures with the likes of the City Phone project, which pulled down the local telecom industry. voc200@koreatimes.co.kr