مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

Given the recent increase in the use of smart devices, mobile traffic has also been increasing rapidly. Mobile traffic increased in Korea by nearly 277 times, from 303 TB in October 2009 to 84,078 TB in December 2013, after the release of Samsung’s Omnia II and Apple’s iPhone in the Korean mobile device market in 2009 (Jeoung et al., 2011; MSIP, 2014a). In addition, global mobile data traffic is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 61% from 2013 to 2018, reaching 15.9 EB per month by 2018 (Cisco, 2014). Consequently, many new technologies such as wideband code division multiple access, high speed downlink packet access, long term evolution (LTE), WiBro, and others, have been introduced in an effort to address the increased demand for mobile traffic.

As the demand for mobile traffic increases, the demand for frequency also increases. It is not easy to solve this problem because frequency is a finite resource. One of the ways to handle this problem is spectrum reallocation, which involves giving up part of the broadcasting spectrum to make more room for wireless broadband. While this spectrum reallocation might be considered as an efficient use of the spectrum by wireless mobile service providers, broadcasters argue that spectrum reallocation needs to encompass broader public policy objectives such as universal service, local journalism, and public safety (Eggerton, 2009).

In the meantime, many countries, including Korea, have studied the efficient use of television white space (TVWS). In particular, a Super Wi-Fi service is highlighted as one way of utilizing TVWS (Jahng, 2013). For example, KT, one of Korea’s telecom operators, started a pilot project in a specific region in 2014 as a member of a consortium initiated by the Korean Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. According to KT, the consortium will use vacant frequencies made available at locations where the spectrum is not being used following the shift from analog TV to digital TV in 2012, and the bandwidth can be used for low-frequency Internet access for up to 10 km. KT also planned to provide public services such as transportation and weather information at bus stops for tourists in the service region (Shin, 2013).