KT opens 100,000 free Wi-Fi Access Points in South Korea; WiBro & LTE
KT, the second largest telco in South Korea, has opened up 100,000 Wi-Fi access points (APs) as part of its participation in a government-led program which will improve the public’s access to free Wi-Fi-based connectivity. According to the Korea Times the operator has also pledged to enhance Wi-Fi network equipment in subway trains across the country.
“Aiming at reducing people’s telecom (i.e. broadband Internet access) expenses, we have worked on opening 100,000 Wi-Fi APs and improving the quality of Wi-Fi networks inside subway trains,” said Park Hyun-jin, vice president of KT Mobile’s business department. “We will come up with more measures to further cut household telecom expenses and expand benefits for our subscribers.”
With the government’s ‘Public Wi-Fi 2.0’ policy seeking to improve Wi-Fi APs nationwide, KT has said that the bulk of its newly opened hotspots are at busy locations, such as shopping malls, bus stations, subway stations and tourist sites. The hotspots can be accessed by both KT mobile subscribers and those that are not signed up to the cellco’s services, though the latter users are required to provide personal information (such as an email address, phone number, gender and age) in order to take advantage of free Wi-Fi for one hour.
Alongside its expansion of free Wi-Fi APs, KT has begun work on improving network equipment to provide faster and more stable wireless broadband connectivity. To that end, it is reportedly replacing old Wi-Fi network devices, which are based only on WiBro technology (the Korean variant of WiMAX), on subway trains with new hybrid devices that support both WiBro and LTE technologies. KT has said it expects to first complete the replacement for subway trains on lines 1 to 8 in Seoul, before expanding upgrade works nationwide by the end of this month.
KT models show promotion materials for the Giga-WiFi and LTE networks ………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Over one year ago, KT introduced its GiGA WiFi 2.0 that will provide network speeds twice as fast as the previous version. With the world’s first Wi-Fi 2.0 technology, the nation’s second-largest telecom company said it will soon be able to upgrade maximum Wi-Fi speed to 3.4 gigabits per second (Gbps).
The Wi-Fi 2.0 network adopted “multi-user, multiple input and multiple output” technology to provide faster speeds to all users simultaneously connected to a network, KT said. It has also applied the “wireless intrusion prevention system” to block unauthorized access points and devices.
KT also said it has provided more than 200,000 public Wi-Fi access points nationwide of which 100,000 were announced this past Friday.
References:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/common/vpage-pt.asp?categorycode=133&newsidx=234602
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2017/07/693_210108.html