WIBRO, THE NEW MOBILE broadband standard in South Korea that is deeply aligned with Mobile WiMAX (like Mobile WiMAX, it is based on the 802.16e standard, which was ratified by the IEEE late last year), is rapidly moving from the demonstration and trial phase to commercial launch this spring.

Earlier this month, Korea Telecom launched WiBro on a trial basis in Seoul, South Korea, to about 200 of its employees. That launch followed a high-profile test at last November's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Busan, South Korea, where dignitaries from several different countries were able to use the service on about 500 WiBro-enabled handsets distributed by Samsung. Rival carrier SK Telecom, which also plans to launch WiBro this year.

WiBro rides on the 2.3 GHz spectrum band. Users theoretically can attain downstream bandwidth rates of up to about 3 Mb/s, and a Korea Telecom official said during a U.S. visit late last year that the service in trials has consistently achieved data rates at or above 1.5 Mb/s.

Most of the business contracts being awarded by Korea Telecom and SK Telecom are, not surprisingly, going to their native vendors Samsung and LG Electronics. However, European and North American chipset developers, which are developing Mobile WiMAX and WiBro system-on-a-chip (SOC) solutions, also are getting a piece of the action.

Montreal-based Wavesat recently announced a partnership with SK Telecom, under which the Korean carrier will play an instrumental role in contributing information and direction to the development of Wavesat's WiBro SOC.

“They really urged us not just to develop a WiBro product, but something that really could be applied on a worldwide basis,” said Vijay Dube, vice president of marketing and business development for Wavesat. “You will see more of that influence by the operators at the chipset level now. It has become a competitive issue to have a complete understanding of the chipset features and the core technology.”

That may be especially true of standards like WiBro and Mobile WiMAX, which are evolving. For example, multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) technology was not included in the original development of WiBro, but MIMO probably will be integrated with WiBro as its profile within Mobile WiMAX evolves, Dube said. Meanwhile, as Mobile WiMAX moves toward WiMAX Forum certification around the end of this year, the IEEE may continue to make adjustments to the standard, as it did with the 802.16-2004 Fixed WiMAX standard late last year.

Other chipmakers getting a piece of the WiBro action include Sequans Communications, based in Paris. In January, the company forged an agreement with LG to deliver an SOC solution that can be used in WiBro profiles for a variety of handsets and other devices, said Bernard Aboussouan, vice president of marketing and business development for Sequans. He said the SOC would be ready during the first half of this year.

The Wavesat and Sequans deals both followed moves last year by U.S. chip giant Intel, which signed separate memoranda of understanding with SK Telecom and Korea Telecom to work with the service providers on equipment projects.

AUCTION 65 LICENSES TAKE FLIGHT

The FCC recently announced that spectrum licenses for in-flight, air-to-ground wireless communications aboard commercial airlines are scheduled to be auctioned, beginning May 10 during the FCC's Auction 65. The agency is now seeking comment on reserve prices or minimum opening bids and other procedures for that auction.

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Insight's research suggests that wireless revenues will grow from 46.3% of all telecommunications services revenues in 2005 to 55.6% in 2010 — a virtual flip within the five-year period — approaching a trillion dollar market by the close of the forecast period.