It is about time to review the success of Korea's home-grown mobile broadband technology, at home and in export markets. It is called WiBro (short for Wireless Broadband) here in Korea and Mobile WiMax in other countries around the world. It is based on the IEEE 802.16e standards and subsequent updates.
First, regarding the South Korean market, it seems a safe bet that WiBro-equipped mobile handsets will be very popular and widely used here, now that the mobile broadband market has been opened up. People using the iPhone, Android phones or other mobile broadband-equipped handsets will place a high value on speed. WiBro delivers speed and does so dependably.
In terms of exports, WiBro has expanded its international presence in recent months. The WiMax Forum has announced a long list of companies backing the building of a mobile WiMax ecosystem, including Cisco, Intel, Samsung, KT, Motorola, Yota and others. The Forum reports that wireless broadband internet deployments based on WiMax have reached 519 in 146 countries, including 95 WiMax networks deployed by 2G network operators.
Samsung announced earlier this week that it will launch its next generation mobile internet service with its Russian partner Yota in Nicaragua, starting in May. Also earlier this month, Korea Telecom launched WiBro service in Rwanda, marking the first deployment of the technology in Africa. The initial deployment was a wireless network for government offices in the capital city of Kigali. According to press reports, SK Telesys, the SK group's mobile communication equipment group has exported WiBro to Jordan. KT is providing WiBro services to Uzbekistan, and the list continues to grow. As of September 2009, Samsung alone had provided Mobile WiMax equipment to 25 operators in 21 countries.
what about power consumption? People using iphone and other handsets value battery life!
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