Open USIM system in Korea to boost application development for cell phone authentication

As the discussion on open USIM, a core standard of Asynchronous 3G mobile service, mobile solution industry is busy with preparation for meeting the demand for application development.

The mobile solution companies including Telecoware, ELUON and Infravalley, are putting efforts on developing solutions expecting that open USIM will provide solution industry with a new market of device and subscriber authentication.

The Korean government has already announced its plan of opening USIM to the public which separate device from lines by next March.

Accordingly, mobile solution companies are rushing to commercialize their products to meet the demand for authentication system which certifies subscriber information and device. In particular, the development of EIR, which is expected to have large demand, has been accelerated.

Telcoware(CEO Geum, Han-Tae), which takes the lead in this race, has already completed its development of EIR and waiting for commercialization. EIR is a system which stores and manages unique serial number of a device in the WCDMA network, identifying, for example, stolen devices and restricting the use. The mobile telecommunication solution provider doubled the number of its development experts to efficiently respond to next year’s demand.

Mr. Geum, CEO of Telcoware predicted that “Open USIM would enable users to use other people’s device by simply inserting his/her own chip into other’s device.”
“The demand for additional system is required and EIR will become a leading solution for authentication demand,” he added.

Infravalley, Inc(CEO Choi Yeom-Kyu) provided the authentication system of “FNPS” to KTF in the first half of this year. This system is designed to authenticate and identify the customers who change their service from 2G to 3G.

Kwak Woo-young, team leader at Infravalley, said “If open USIM is realized, new demand for authentication system as well as software upgrade for supply equipment will be accompanied,” adding that “open USIM will bring about significant changes in core network solution market.”

ELUON Corporation (CEO YI, Seung-ku) is also aggressively pursuing development expecting additional demand for Authentication center.

Lee young-sung, general manager at ELUON, said “Various information including phonebook, financial information, traffic info. and contents are stored in USIM. So if a user loses USIM chip, it’s like losing 10 wallets at the same time. Copying issue in WCDMA will be the issue of copying USIM.”

To respond to increasing demand for authentication center, ELUON has been preparing for solutions and closely watching the market.

Source: The Electronic Times