TOKYO—Kyocera, a leading telecom vender in Japan, and Hanaro Telecom, a leading carrier in Korea, reached an agreement regarding the next-generation high-speed mobile data business, Kyocera announced on 22 January.
Based on the agreement, Hanaro plans to launch a high-speed mobile Internet service in June 2003 using i-Burst, a mobile broadband communications system. Kyocera plans to gear up its mobile Internet service as one of its core businesses, along with its cellular phone and PHS terminal business.
Both firms are also going to cooperate on new technology development and overseas business.
According to Kyocera, using the i-Burst technology, carriers can provide a 600 kilobits per second (kbps) to 1 Megabit per second (Mbps) data transmission service with a smaller initial investment than with IMT-2000 technology.
Using the 2.3 GHz band, Hanaro is going to launch the service initially in Seoul and then will rapidly expand the service area to all major cities in the country.
i-Burst technology was developed by U.S.-based Arraycomm, which declined to comment on its involvement with the announcement.
