Substantial ubiquitous services will be introduced in Jeju Island, which is an international free zone in Korea.

SK Telecom announced that the company will launch the Telematics services on Jeju Island starting on December 29th. To this end, the company has built infrastructures such as a system center, briefing office, call center, and public relation pavilion. It opened the ’Jeju Telematics Center, and the PR Center’, on December 9th. In addition to the navigation-based Telematics service, SK Telecom also plans to introduce a wide variety of ubiquitous services at Jeju Island.

As part of the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) and Jeju Island’s joint effort to establish the island as a Telematics service model city, the SK Telecom consortium was selected as a preferred negotiator on August 5th, 2004. In line with this, the company has been making its Telematics investment at Jeju since September 2004. A total of about KRW 10 billion is scheduled to be invested over a period of 2 years via two-phased tests that end in July 2006.

The first-phased investment (from September 2004 to July 2005) in Telematics service is focused on the following four areas: 1.Construction of a Jeju Telematics Center that will include a system center, briefing office, and customer call center. 2.Development of six Telematics services that support a broad range of cultural events and shopping, as well as a Jeju route guide service 3.Supply of vehicle-mounted terminals for the vehicle Telematics service 4.Construction of a wireless LAN for multimedia service.

The six Telematics services to be implemented jointly by SK Telecom and Jeju Island are as follows: 1.A customized travel and traffic information service offered by navigation via terminals 2.A ’Jeju Cultural Event’ service that provides a variety of event schedules and tourism information on Jeju Island. 3.A ’V-Shop’ service that lets customers order and make payments for special products on Jeju Island through a wireless LAN and cellular network. 4.A ’Safe’ service that connects customers with Jeju Island’s Fire Control Center in the case of an emergency. 5.’Leisure Life Information’ service. 6. An ’Entertainment’ service.

In order to facilitate the convenience of customers who are using rental cars, the Telematics terminal features a 6.5 inch screen, 20 gigabyte storage capacity, wireless LAN, and cellular communication modem. SK Telecom also released a single type terminal that enables customers to attach and detach a folder. This will facilitate the watching of TV broadcasting, and allow the enjoyment of the satellite DMB service, in the future.

According to SK Telecom, as many as 5.1 million tourists take flights to Jeju every year and 73 percent of them use rental cars. This amply demonstrates the potential for the telematics service business. In addition, this service has an important meaning in terms of promoting Jeju Island as a cutting-edge IT region connected with tourism. It will establish the island as a world’s first Telematics service model region. To this end, SK Telecom will launch a broad range of test-bed ubiquitous services

At the opening ceremony of the Telematics Center, Shin Bae Kim, president of SK Telecom said, "Jeju Island’s Telematics service is a substantial ubiquitous service that allows vehicle drivers to utilize a vehicle as if they were at their home or office. This Telematics service does not merely offer a navigation function for location search. It also provides a vast array of beneficial information and services they can use while driving their vehicles. ’International Telematics Conference and Exposition 2004’ will take place at the time as the launching of the pilot Telematics service on Jeju Island", he added.

Dong Soo Kim, director of MIC’s Communication Promotion Bureau also commented, "Establishing Jeju Island as a Telematics service model area is the first joint project executed by the government and private entities in accordance with the government’s IT-8-3-9 project. I expect that this service will play a crucial test-bed role in accelerating the convergence of the telecommunications and automobile industries, as well as the convergence of other industries."

For a smooth take-off of the new service, SK Telecom will provide the service free of charge until the end of February, and charge for the service, starting in March. The company plans to install 500 terminals in rental cars starting on December 29th in order to start offering the Telematics service to Jeju Island tourists.

About fifty persons participated in the opening ceremony of the ’Jeju Telematics Center’. These included Shin Bae Kim, president of SK Telecom, Dong Soo Kim, director of MIC’s Communication Promotion Bureau, and Tae Whan Kim, governor of Jeju Island.