In prelude to coming this June's first ever world commercial WiBro service, KT (www.kt.co.kr) just completed developing new smart card, a SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) card which will confirm authenticity and identity of the subscribers.

In relation to this, KT launched its product promotion show for the new W SIM card which was developed with joint effort from Axalto (France's smart card manufacturer www.axalto.com) on 18th, May.

KT & Axalto, Joint Development of WiBro Smart Card
KT's newly developed WiBro SIM card will be used in devices like PDA, Notebook PC and smart phone for the subscribers to safely use various internet services and it also includes ability to connect to WCDMA network.

Subscribers with the W-SIM card will be able to use services like digital signature certification, credit cards and membership card and e-ticket purchases.

KT's BcN(Broadband convergence Network) headquarter wireless solution director Young-Min Jin said "we signed MoU with France's Axalto October last year and started the full scale development project which made the introduction of world's first WiBro Smart card possible."

Axalto is is the world's leading provider of microprocessor cards (Smart Card) and with KT's new WiBro Subscriber Identification Module they handled W-SIM card portion using their smart card platform.

KT's wireless solution R&D team leader Chang-Suk Ok, who was responsible for the project said "Our R&D has been working on the SIM card development since end of 2004 and we completed Subscriber Identification Module in June last year and followed that with release of new Smart Card format which was a joint effort development with Axalto."

MIC(Ministry of Information and Communication), for a security measure has recommended for SIM card to be used in 3G phones like WCDMA and WiBro devices.

IC chip embedded KT WiBro smart card for WiBro subscribers

You can be authenticated by just inserting IC chip into the PCMCIA slot

A USB reader for KT WiBro smart card

Another type of USB reader for KT WiBro smart card

A different type of reader for KT WiBro smart card with notebook PC