(Nikkei BP Group)
(No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
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| Korea Telecom Develops IMT-2000 Satellite Mobile Phone
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August 26, 1998 (SEOUL) -- Korea Telecom (KT) developed a satellite mobile
phone called IMT-2000, which allows transmission of video images in
addition to voice data.
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The state-run telephone company said it invested 7 billion won (US$5.3
million) over the past two years and recently finished a trial of the
phone at its research and development center.
"This is the first time that all the IMT-2000 technologies have been
developed on our own," a company official said.
"We have proposed IMT-2000's development standards to the International
Telecommunications Union, a United Nations body that coordinates global
standards for telecom devices.
KT's new mobile phone infrastructure features a handset, base stations,
controllers and ATM (asynchronous transfer mode)-based switching machines.
For the new system, KT adopted a broadband CDMA (code division multiple
access) system with a frequency band of 10MHz, which can transmit 10
times more data than conventional mobile phone systems.
Because cellular and PCS (personal communications service) phones have
low frequency bands, transmission of moving images is not possible.
Korea Telecom said it expects to offer a commercial service after 2000.
SK Telecom Co. was the first company to launch a trial satellite mobile
phone operation.
SK's new satellite system, which uses a 5MHz frequency band, allows voice
communication, multimedia features and wireless Internet access. SK
said it will develop its commercial system by 2001.
To date, SK and KT of Korea, Japan's NTT Mobile Communications Network
Inc. (NTT DoCoMo) and Sweden's LM Ericsson have unveiled their respective
pilot products for IMT-2000, while the international standards for the
satellite phone have yet to be decided through the ITU.
Related story: Hyundai
to Enhance Communications Equipment Business
Related story: IDO
to Enter Mobile Phone Business in Korea By 2000
(Maeil Business Newspaper, Korea)
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