K-ON Network Business Announcement
Established in Subways of 6 Major Metropolitan Cities
"Targeted Services and Reduced Communication Costs"
"We will enable anyone to use free Wi-Fi in the subway that is 20 times faster than now, regardless of the telecom carrier."
Keion Network (Keion) announced on the 29th that it will build a high-speed free Wi-Fi network based on the subways of six major cities.
Keion, which obtained a period telecommunications business license last July, is targeting the subway and urban railway sections of six metropolitan cities, including Daegu Line 1 starting next year, Incheon, and the Seoul metropolitan subway.
Free Frequency, Utilizing Domestically Developed Equipment
Keion utilizes a 1.6 GHz bandwidth in the 22?23.6 GHz band of the license-free frequency freely supplied by the Ministry of Science and ICT in January 2018. This replaces the 5G 28 GHz band returned by the three major telecom companies last year.
They are building a communication service with speeds of 2.4 Gbps, which is 20 times faster than the current LTE Wi-Fi speed (120 Mbps).
Keion plans to provide seamless, high-quality Wi-Fi service inside trains and stations using domestically developed communication equipment.
The dedicated backhaul technology for subways and urban railways owned by Keion is the Mobile Hotspot Network (MHN) technology, which the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced as the world's first commercialization at the 2016 MWC event.
This technology, developed with a government budget of 30 billion KRW, enables gigabit-level communication between repeaters installed on the tracks and modems installed inside vehicles. At that time, the MHN backhaul speed was limited to 1 Gbps but has been enhanced to 2.4 Gbps through upgrades.
Park Joon-dong, CEO of Keion, said, "We will be able to provide up to 100 GB of data free of charge to customers using subways and urban railways."
Up to 100GB Free... How to Monetize?
To use Keion's free Wi-Fi, users need to select the Wi-Fi and complete identity verification once. Then, they must watch two 15-second advertisements.
On the Keion platform, which is the first screen of the Wi-Fi, location-based targeted services will be offered, and users can enjoy local content, e-commerce, videos, webtoons, games, and more. Large-capacity content will also be loaded to allow users to experience the fast speed.
Jo Yoon-sung, Chief Business Officer (Vice President) of Keion, said, "We will also provide specialized services needed by subway commuters, such as checking subway congestion."
In the future, Keion plans to create bundled products with telecom companies so that users can pay about 2,000 KRW more per month to use fast subway Wi-Fi without watching advertisements.
CEO Park predicted, "The average daily number of subway users in the six metropolitan cities is 12.4 million, and about half of them do not use unlimited data plans, so they could become our customers."
Need to Raise 200 Billion KRW Investment... "Realizing Telecom Welfare"
Keion will sign an agreement with Daegu Transportation Corporation next month and start commercialization on Daegu Line 1 next year. Using Daegu as a testbed, they will verify the effectiveness of high-speed Wi-Fi and expand nationwide.
The challenge is how to raise the investment of 200 billion KRW. Park Jung-jun, Head of Investment Planning at Keion (Vice President), stated, "We plan to receive investments mainly from equipment suppliers and partners, then raise funds through venture capital firms (VCs) and financial institutions."
CEO Park said, "To achieve the government's goal of reducing household communication expenses, we are also seeking cooperation with existing telecom companies," adding, "We will become a 'telecom welfare' company that can prove and present the paradigm that the telecom industry should follow."
CEO Park is a 'telecom expert' who worked at LG Uplus for 28 years. He was in charge of LG Uplus's major customer service businesses and led new businesses such as MVNOs and Over-The-Top (OTT) services.
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