South Korea’s Ministry of Information and Communication issued a statement endorsing the IEEE
802.16 standard as Korea’s base technology for portable wireless broadband access. Plans are being developed for the licensing of carriers interested in offering “WiBro” portable broadband services based on the standard. Initial commercial services are forecast to launch in 2006. http://www.mic.go.kr/eng/index.jsp
- In April 2004, the U.S. Trade Representative and South Korea’s Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) negotiated a compromise agreement regarding the wireless Internet platform for interoperability (WIPI) standard that was developed in Korea. Under the deal, the Korean government can require mobile carriers to use WIPI. However, on top of WIPI, mobile operators will also be allowed to add other specifications such as QUALCOMM’s binary runtime environment for wireless (BREW), which currently in in use by an estimated 7 million Korean mobile users.