SAMSUNG and ETRI demonstrate world’s first live mobile WiMAX evolution

Seoul, Korea, October 7th, 2008 – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and ETRI announced the live demonstration of mobile WiMAX evolution, the next generation mobile WiMAX technology at ‘ITU-R Seoul Meeting,’ Oct. 7 to 15, 2008

Mobile WiMAX evolution system provides the enhanced data speed 4 times faster than the speed of current Mobile WiMAX technology while improving the efficiency of frequency allocation. It is compatible with currently available mobile WiMAX devices so that users of ‘Mobile WiMAX evolution’ service can communicate without any hassle with legacy Mobile WiMAX devices.

Mobile WiMAX evolution provides downlink peak rate of 149Mbps and uplink peak rate of 43Mbps, which means that users can download a MP3 file (4Mb) in 0.2 second and a movie file (700 Mb) in 37 seconds.

Mobile WiMAX evolution incorporates Multi-User MIMO technology, the next generation MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology to increase the efficiency of frequency usage. MIMO technology is regarded as one of the most promising next generation mobile technologies.

Commercial Samsung Mobile WiMAX devices and the newly developed proto-type terminal were used in the demonstration. For this demonstration, Samsung played a major role to develop the system equipment while ETRI had an important role to develop the proto-type terminal.

“Commercialization of Mobile WiMAX evolution will vitalize Korean IT industry which is slow in growth nowadays,” said Moonki Choi, head of ETRI. “To secure more core technologies, strong support and interest from the industry is needed,” he added.

“Samsung has stood out in the world as a leader of mobile WiMAX and prove our leadership again with this demonstration,” said Geesung Choi, President of Samsung Electronics Telecommunications Network Business. “Throughout the close partnership with ETRI, we can give confidence to global operators about the great potential of Mobile WiMAX technology and hope that more operators consider Mobile WiMAX as their next generation mobile technology.”

“Samsung has stood out in the world as a leader of mobile WiMAX and prove our leadership again with this demonstration,” said Geesung Choi, President of Samsung Electronics Telecommunications Network Business. “Throughout the close partnership with ETRI, we can give confidence to global operators about the great potential of Mobile WiMAX technology and hope that more operators consider Mobile WiMAX as their next generation mobile technology.”

Samsung plans to provide commercial mobile WiMAX evolution system by 2011.

ETRI is a non-profit government funded research and development institute in the field of Information and Communications Technologies. The 11 R&D divisions of ETRI aim to perform their R&D activities to support new growth engines for domestic IT industry. ETRI has successfully developed information technologies such as TDX-Exchange, High Density Semiconductor Microchips, Digital Mobile Telecommunication System (CDMA), DMB and WiBro System. As a recognized leader in the information and Telecommunication research institute in Korea, we will strive to be the best in the fields of information and telecommunications. (http://www.etri.re.kr)

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in telecommunication, semiconductor, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2007 consolidated sales of US$103.4 billion. Employing approximately 150,000 people in 134 offices in 62 countries, the company consists of five main business units: Telecommunication Network Business, Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business, and Digital Appliance Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of mobile phones, digital TVs, memory chips, and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.