Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

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KTF Suspected of Relying on Qualcomm for Mobile TV


By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Report

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200509/kt2005093020065811870.htm

KTF, Korea’s second-largest wireless operator, is suspected of turning to U.S. technology for go-anywhere TV services instead of the locally-developed format adopted by its bigger rival SK Telecom.

KTF admits that the carrier checked the commercial viability of various mobility-specific TV services, such as MediaFlo of U.S.-based Qualcomm, but denied the claim that it would tilt toward the foreign format.

``MediaFlo is one of many technologies available for video-on-the-move services. We have examined it and others, but have yet to make any decisions,’’ a KTF spokesman Kwon Young-wung said.

Developed by Qualcomm that is famous for the wireless telephony platform code division multiple access (CDMA), MediaFlo is an end-to-end solution that enables the multicasting of high-quality video and audio streams.

The air-interface MediaFlo system uses over-the-air signals to deliver video and audio channels. As a result, it needs a new frequency on top of legacy CDMA spectrum.

Such take-out TV offerings are the latest buzzword in the telecom and broadcasting segments alike and Korea is at the forefront of the trend on the back of satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB).

TU Media, the subsidiary of Korea’s foremost wireless operator SK Telecom, launched commercial DMB services in this May and KTF jumped onto the DMB bandwagon last month.

Market observers point out, however, that KTF has sought alternative ways to DMB because of concerns that depending on DMB would boost the bottom line of its archrival SK Telecom.

``KTF has a legitimate reason to search for non-DMB technologies for mobile TV as competition between it and SK Telecom is ever intensifying. In addition, it has maintained a good relationship with Qualcomm,’’ Mirae Asset analyst Kim Kyung-mo said.

KTF, the mobile arm of Korea’s dominant telecom operator KT, has been the only carrier in Korea to use a middleware of Qualcomm, called the binary runtime environment for wireless (BREW), which enables music downloading or Web access with cell phones.

Spectrum Shortage

Qualcomm vice president Rob Chandhok said the entity already made contact with KTF at the CTIA Wireless 2005 exhibition held last week in San Francisco.

``We demonstrated our video services (MediaFlo) to KTF officials with mobile handsets last week,’’ said Chandhok, who is in charge of promoting MediaFlo.

Yet, the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) argues Qualcomm will not be able to provide its services here in the near future due to a lack of available frequencies.

``Neither Qualcomm nor KTF requested spectrum for MediaFlo. Even if they ask, we don’t have bandwidth of very high frequency (VHF) or ultra high frequency (UHF) available,’’ MIC director Joo Jong-ok said.

UHF and VHF are the most common frequency bands for TV. The country retains 12 VHF channels and 56 UHF channels. Currently, not a single channel is unoccupied as all 68 channels are taken up by the country’s terrestrial broadcasters and cable TV networks.

``Some channels will be redistributed after 2010 when frequencies are returned to the government in time with the conversion of analogue TV formula to digital,’’ Joo said.

``I do not think MediaFlo can be deployed soon in Korea in this climate. It is clear that Qualcomm would not be able to have even a trial run without spectrum.’’

Asked about the outstanding roadblocks, KTF refused to comment while Chandhok claimed it is up to service operators, not Qualcomm, to address the problems.



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09-30-2005 20:09