Interconnection is the physical linking of a carrier’s network with facilities not belonging to that network. The current interconnection rules introduced in January 2005 are applicable only to fixed lines.(image:Electronic_Frontier_Foundation/flickr)
SEOUL, July 30 (Korea Bizwire) – Beginning in 2016, mobile service subscribers will be able to use any network available regardless of what mobile telecom company they have signed up for.
For example, when a mobile network failure occurs, the user can readily switch to a network provided by another telecom service operator. The Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning said this on July 29 as part of a network interconnection program.
Interconnection is the physical linking of a carrier’s network with facilities not belonging to that network. The current interconnection rules introduced in January 2005 are applicable only to fixed lines. As more and more people rely on wireless Internet networks for the past few years due to the wide adoption of LTE services, however, the ministry is trying to extend the same rules to the wireless area.
To that end, the ministry will adopt standard Internet connect terms. Up until now, the terms of network interconnection were differently applied to large or small operators. But the ministry will introduce a scheme in which it applies a uniform standard without regard to network size, subscriber number, and traffic exchange ratio.
In addition, it will also change the way the operators pay the network usage fees based on the amount of traffic actually used by each operator, thereby relieving the financial burden to most operators. Kim Kyung-man, the ministry manager in charge of telecom competition policy, said, “Once the revised plan is in place, it will have an effect of lowering cost of interconnection for the telecom operators while enlarging the overall size of Internet network.”
By Sean Chung (schung10@koreabizwire.com)
