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Conference Paper
An Economic Analysis of WiBro(Wireless Broadband) Service in Korea
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- Authors
- Jae Hyun Yeo, Kwang Hee Lee
- Issue Date
- 2006-10
- Citation
- ITS World Congress 2006, pp.1-11
- Language
- English
- Type
- Conference Paper
- Abstract
- In recent years, the telecommunication market in Korea has experienced a remarkable growth due to mobile phone service and high-speed fixed internet service. However, as the number of subscribers of both services exceeded 30 million and 10 million respectively, most people have worried about the slow-down of growth rate and the saturation of market growth. Moreover, the 3rd generation mobile service, which was expected to be a new cash cow in the telecommunication market, has not flourished yet, and the 4th generation mobile service has been expected to commercialize after 2010 at most. As mobile phone service and high-speed fixed internet service market have been enlarged, customers’ needs for both mobility and high-speed data rate have been increased. Wireless LAN service was expected to fulfill these needs, but it is failed in the market since it had weak points on mobility and service coverage. Mobile internet service using a mobile phone is also not flourished yet since the data rate is too slow and the price is too high. Hence, in Korea, a new technology should be developed to satisfy the needs for wireless high-speed internet service with mobility and cheaper price. The WiBro(Wireless Broadband) service, which introduced commercially in the end of 2006, is expected to provide wireless broadband service with a cheaper price than existing mobile internet service. In January 2005, KT, SKT, and Hanaro were selected as service providers. After three months, however, Hanaro Telecom abandoned WiBro business because of the inside affair. Therefore, two service providers remained providing commercial service. In this paper, we analyze the economic impact caused by the reduction of the number of service providers using a WiBro business evaluation model. We aim to predict WiBro industry market by analyzing how demand change will affect industry players such as service providers, suppliers, and policymakers. And we suggest some key factors to success in wireless broadband services in the future market.