Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

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Korea adopts mobile Internet platform

Qualcomm considers filing complaint, citing concerns over trade barriers


The Korea Wireless Internet Standardization Forum said that it has adopted the wireless Internet platform for interoperability 2.0 version as the formal standard for Korea's mobile Internet technology.

Wireless Internet platform is middleware that allows mobile phone users to access the Internet with their handsets and download multimedia data. With the formal endorsement of the platform by KWISF, handset makers like Samsung Electronics Co. are set to launch version 2.0-enabled phones in the second half of this year.

The move is now expected to touch off protests from the United States during forthcoming trade talks between the two countries slated for Feb. 24-26 in Seoul.

Korean mobile carriers are promoting WIPI as a single standard to promote mobile Internet data services, but U.S.-based wireless technology developer Qualcomm Inc. is opposing the standard, saying it could become a trade barrier.

Qualcomm, whose code division multiple access technology is used in Korea as the dominant mobile phone standard, is keen to promote its own platform called BREW. KTF Co., Korea's second-largest mobile carrier, has adopted BREW, but Qualcomm fears the joint move by Korean carriers could derail its efforts to spread the platform.

Qualcomm is known to be considering filing a complaint to the U.S. Trade Representative, claiming that adopting WIPI is an unfair trade practice in the telecommunications field.

The platform caused a dispute with another U.S. company, Sun Microsystems, over the alleged violation of patents and royalties last year. Afterward, SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom struck a deal with Sun on royalties and agreed to jointly develop the 2.0 version.

Although Qualcomm is striving to take issue with WIPI in Korea, the Ministry of Information and Communication repeatedly said that it does not pose a trade barrier to the U.S. company.

KTF, for instance, is the first mobile carrier in the world to have adopted BREW as its formal platform and use it as a full commercial version. Information Ministry officials also said BREW and other platforms will be compatible with the WIPI standard as the country's policy is not to block foreign technologies but to streamline the complicated and conflicting standards.

The ministry also stressed that local mobile carriers are jointly promoting WIPI in order to kick-start the fledgling wireless Internet content market on their own initiatives, so the platform is not a government-set standard. There are about 140,000 phones featuring WIPI 1.0 since its debut in June 2003.

Not only local carriers but multinationals like IBM Korea, Microsoft Corp., Sun Microsystems and Motorola joined the development of WIPI 2.0. Other partners include handset manufacturers, mobile content providers and software developers.

According to industry estimates, Korea has paid upward of 500 billion won in CDMA technology royalties to Qualcomm between 1995 and 2002. Despite the huge amount of money contributed by Korean carriers and handset makers, Qualcomm allegedly offered more favorable royalty conditions to Chinese carriers, sparking an uproar here. Qualcomm, however, declined to reveal the specific terms reached with Chinese partners.

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By Yang Sung-jin

2004.02.16

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/02/16/200402160005.asp