WiMAX Development in Asia March 29 - April 4
April 02, 2010
Korean telecom operator KT has inked a
memorandum of understanding with Intel for collaboration on WiMAX technology, JoongAng
Daily reported on March 27. As per the agreement, Intel will design a WiMAX
chipset for KT catering to the particular requirements posed by Korea's WiMAX
bands. At present, both KT and SK Telecom offer services based on WiBro, the
Korean version of WiMAX. Nevertheless, WiBro operates in different bands from
WiMAX, and the new 2.3GHz spectrum licenses in Korea entail that both KT and SK
Telecom will adopt WiMAX eventually, according to an April 1 FierceBroadbandWireless
report. It is projected that Intel's chipset will move into production in
October 2010 at the earliest. Moreover, it is expected that KT and Intel will also
discuss further collaboration on expanding Korea's WiMAX technology overseas.