Samsung-Intel alliance crucial to Mobile WiMAX

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Samsung-Intel alliance crucial to Mobile WiMAX

Mobile WiMAX, the mobile Internet technology developed by Korean company Samsung Electtronics Co., is celebrating its exporting success to the U.S. market. But WiMAX didn’t get there overnight. In the past it faced some critical moments. A little known fact is that WiMAX technology almost became a sacrifice of U.S. trade negotiations. After the Korean Information and Communication Ministry in 2002 announced the concept of WiMAX, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in Korea supported development of the technology. At the time, WiMAX technology was adopted by the Telecommunication Technology Association for technical support. That became a problem. The Korean government policy support created misunderstanding in the United States. A U.S. company, Qualcom-affiliate Flarion Technologies, complained to the U.S. government, insisting that technology standardization should be decided by private entrepreneurs, not by the government. In February of 2004, Korea was able to satisfy U.S. demands by using a strategy established by Samsung Electronics and its alliance with Intel regarding development of WiMAX technology. “Without the alliance, today’s success would have been difficult,” said Song Sang-hoon of the Information and Communication Ministry. The WiMAX success was also strongly helped by aggressive investment from Samsung Electronics. In 2002, Samsung was worried about the absence of a next-generation technology in the telecommunications sector that would follow the code division multiple access system. Lee Ki-tae, president of Samsung Electronics, believed in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, which later became the core technology known as WiMAX. Samsung Electronics invested heavily in the field. It invested between 300 and 400 billion won ($313 to $418 million) on WiMAX development. “WiMAX is a creation that came from close partnership and cooperation between government and business,” said Yoo Pil-gye, director-general at the information ministry. by Suh Kyoung ho
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