Technology for the greater good

South Korea is widely recognized as the most progressively broadband nation — and market — on the planet. It acquired that recognition through a combination of factors, including Korean service providers' willingness to aggressively innovate and deploy broadband technology, and the Korean government's willingness to press an entire country and industry toward the goal of a being a progressively broadband nation. In this regard, Korea has been touted as a model for the rest of the broadband-hopeful world.

Still, some of the Korean government's policies designed to promote broadband deployment might seem alarmingly out of line to U.S. citizens and firms. For example, almost three years ago the Korean Ministry of Information and Communication approved the Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability (WIPI). The purpose of WIPI was to get Korean service providers and application developers to unite around a single standard for downloading Internet content to mobile devices. The idea was that getting everyone to pursue a single standard would improve the ability for mobile data services to move from conception to nationwide acceptance as quickly as possible.

To the delight of Sun Microsystems, Korea chose Java as the download interface for its standard, meaning all Korean carriers would have to use Java and no other interfaces, including Qualcomm's BREW platform. But U.S. trade groups that feared Qualcomm and other U.S. vendors could get locked out of the important Korean market made their grievances known, and the Korean government eventually relented earlier this year, saying technologies other than Java also could be represented in the nation's mobile broadband network.

The Korean government had the same intention with its broadband fixed wireless standard, called Wibro. If Wibro doesn't sound like WiMAX, it's because the Korean government ignored the progress being made with that emerging standard. The licensing process for Wibro is due to begin early next year, but until recently, Korea acted as if WiMAX didn't exist. The WiMAX Forum and the U.S. government convinced the government otherwise.

It could be argued that in pursuing standards such as WIPI and Wibro, the Korean government is only pursuing the greater good for Korean consumers. Compare its efforts with what's happening in the U.S., where many people don't have — and probably never will have — broadband, and where broadband policy is a political football that is passed from hand to hand by presidential incumbents and candidates more than it is actually thrown. At least the Korean government is trying to complete the pass.

However, single-minded aggressiveness, while providing a head start, also can be a bad thing. By choosing technologies, the government also is forcing standards that eventually could leave Korean carriers and consumers out of step with the rest of the worldwide telecom industry. That could make it harder for carriers to find the equipment they need and for consumers to get the kinds of handsets they might want.

There are elements of the Korean market that provide a great broadband adoption model for the U.S. market, but other elements — such as the Korean government's influence — don't. Interestingly, Verizon Wireless has a partnership with Korean carrier SK Telecom that is intended, among other things, to teach the U.S. carrier something about mobile data usage that it can apply to its home markets. But, with initiatives such as WIPI and Wibro, some things might be better lost in translation.