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WIPI to Become Mandatory for Handsets This Month

Cell phones will be required to carry the Korean-style wireless Internet platform WIPI (Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability), the Ministry of Information and Communication said Thursday.
The ministry said it revised a law on electronic communication equipment connections to promote the use of WIPI and development of related industries. The revised law will go into effect this month. A wireless Internet platform is a program for wireless devices that functions like an operating system in a computer.

Most Korean handsets already have WIPI. A ministry spokesman said since the country's "big three" cell phone manufacturers used different platforms in the past, content developers had borne the unnecessary burden of investing in developing platforms. The revised law will ease that burden, he added.

The ministry initially wanted to make the WIPI system mandatory last July, but the U.S. government opposed Korea¡¯s plan on behalf of American mobile phone semiconductor chipmaker Qualcomm, triggering a trade conflict with Korea. In a compromise solution, Korea agreed to postpone making WIPI mandatory until April 1 this year, and the U.S. promised to make Qualcomm¡¯s platform BREW meet the WIPI standard.

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http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200503/200503310028.html