LG to lose rights to radio wave, cell technology

The government will strip LG Telecom of its commercial rights to IMT2000, a next-generation cell phone service technology that the company has not been using, at a policy evaluation meeting today, according to a senior official in the Information Ministry. In addition, the government is stripping the corresponding radio wave from the company, the first time such action has ever been taken, the official said. LG Telecom had not been using the technology for the past four years and has made it clear that doesn’t plan to use the technology in the near future. It also has not been using the radio wave (2 GHz). “When LG Telecom first applied for the technology, it said it would begin services as late as June 2006, but it broke its promise so we are taking away its commercial rights,” an Information Ministry official said. “Also, we lent them the radio wave for four years, and whether they used it or not is their problem. They should pay fees for keeping the wave.” The ministry says LG Telecom should pay 80 billion won ($84 million) more. LG Telecom, however, says that it shouldn’t be forced to start a business that doesn’t have a market. Also, the company paid 220 billion won in initial bids in order to win the commercial rights to use the technology. “We don’t have any intentions of using the radio wave, nor have we used it,” said LG President Nam Yong. He also said they are going to ask for use of the 800-MHz radio wave from SK Telecom, which has the exclusive rights for it in Korea, in order to release dual-band phones that support global roaming. The 800-MHz is a popular standard worldwide. IMT-2000 is a third-generation mobile communications service based on technology which is mostly used in North America. It enables high-speed transmission of multimedia data anytime, anywhere on a single cell phone. The technology, however, is not compatible in all countries because of different coding. LG Telecom said that instead of the IMT-2000, it will unveil new services based on a different radio wave, 1.8 GHz. “More than 80 percent of the world doesn’t use this technology. If services like global roaming are not possible, it isn’t marketable. The government should refund the money we paid in our initial bids,” a company spokesman said. by Lee Weon-ho