SEOUL, South Korea-The South Korean Ministry of Information and Communication has extended the deadline for third-generation mobile licenses until the end of October, one month later than its original deadline.
The postponement is due to a dispute over technology standards, Reuters reported.
The country’s three expected bidders for the 3G licenses are leaning toward wideband CDMA technology rather than cdma2000. The country’s mobile carriers currently operate CDMA networks.
The Reuters report said that the government is expected to urge at least one operator to deploy cdma2000. Qualcomm Inc. and Samsung Electronics each have also urged carriers to adopt cdma2000.
The ministry is still targeting the end of the year to award the three licenses, the report said.
South Korean 3G licenses are expected to cost wireless carriers at least $900 million each when they are awarded through a modified “beauty contest,” with a bid ceiling at $1.17 billion and minimum bids at $896 million.
Korea Telecom, SK Telecom and LG Telecom are expected to walk away with licenses. However, Hanaro Telecom also is leading a consortium to vie for a 3G license.
At the end of June, Korea had 26.5 million cellular users and only 21.6 million wireline subscribers. SK Telecom leads the Korean mobile market, with 11.5 million subscribers, followed by KT Freetel, the country’s second-largest operator, with nearly 5 million users.
