A new mobile wireless technology favored by the South Korean government could pave the way for new wireless services for millions of users in Asia and Eastern Europe, a South Korean government official said last week.

The South Korean government believes WiBro (Wireless Broadband) services will become the mobile equivalent of broadband DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) connections and the standardization of the technology later this year could help international adoption, said Lee Keun-Hyeob, director general of the Radio Research Laboratory at South Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC).

WiBro offers 3Mbps download speeds at distances up to 1 kilometer from an access point for devices traveling at up to 60 kilometers per hour, Lee said.

It's based on the same technology as the WiMax family of technologies that come under IEEE 802.16. WiMax, which is being pushed by Intel (Profile, Products, Articles) and others, is a wide-area wireless networking technology that promises to deliver wireless broadband access over a range significantly greater than that of IEEE 802.11 WLAN (wireless LAN) technology. Commercial WiMax trials are being conducted in a number of countries, including the U.S., New Zealand, and the U.K. and services using WiMax are planned in 2006 in Singapore, Japan, and the U.S., with the U.S. service being provided by AT&T.