SK Telecom to build Wi-Fi network this year

By Lee Youkyung
SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) -- SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest mobile carrier,
said Thursday that it will build a wireless-fidelity network this year and expand
its smartphone line-up to better respond to the growth in wireless Internet use.
The Wi-Fi network has become a mainstream standard for high-speed wireless
Internet connections and enables users to access the Internet from laptop
computers or mobile devices when they are near a base station, known as
"hotspots."
KT Corp., the country's second-biggest mobile carrier and the sole carrier of
Apple Inc.'s iPhone in the domestic market, has its own wireless service known as
Nespot.
SK will release 15 smartphone models this year and increase the number to 25, or
40 percent of its mobile lineup in 2013, the company said in a release.
More than 12 smartphones to be released this year will be based on Google's
Android system, with the rest running on Windows Mobile and Symbian systems.
The company aims to sell 2 million smartphone units this year, it added.
ylee@yna.co.kr
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