PANTECH TO SHOWCASE FLOTM TECHNOLOGY IN WIRELESS HANDSETS AT CTIA WIRELESS 2006SEOUL, South Korea/LAS VEGAS, U.S. - April 5, 2006: Pantech Group - the number two mobile phone manufacturer in South Korea - today announced plans to showcase FLO technology in its newly designed handset at CTIA WIRELESS 2006, as a means of highlighting its lasting commitment to creating innovative communications applications for mobile users worldwide.
The new handset, with a slim slide design (19.5-mm thick), incorporates FLO technology, a multicast innovation and key component of QUALCOMM’s MediaFLO™ system, which allows for the simultaneous and cost-effective delivery of unprecedented volumes of high-quality, streaming or clipped, audio and video multimedia content to mobile subscribers.
Sung Kyu Lee, President & CEO, Pantech Wireless, Inc., said: “Our focus on R&D and new technologies has been a key factor in the growth of Pantech in the mobile communications sector globally in recent years. We have built our reputation on innovation and the FLO-enabled handset we’ll be showing at CTIA 2006 is just one example of our efforts to be first with new systems and applications.”
The FLO-enabled phone - which will be on display at the QUALCOMM booth and in Pantech’s meeting facilities at CTIA WIRELESS 2006 - is currently in the testing and evaluation phase of production at Pantech. The company decided to proceed with the design of the new phone based on its wide experience with the development of Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) handsets.
With a 2.2 inch QVGA LCD, the handset is optimized for viewing content using FLO technology. In the near future, as the company builds its brand in the market, Pantech will introduce more advanced FLO technology phones in the United States.
Pantech’s focus on innovation is underscored by the fact that more than half of its 5,000 strong workforce is dedicated to R&D. Reinvestment in R&D accounts for approximately 10% of total revenues. Last year, the company invested a total of USD320 million in R&D.
Pantech has a strong track record in creating landmarks in the mobile sector. Notable ‘firsts’ include the world’s largest (1GB) NAND flash memory music phone, the world’s first Bluetooth DMB phone and the world’s first finger print recognition camera phone.
Handset features include:
l Dimensions: 104 x 48.5 x 19.5 mm
l Weight: 110g (900mAh battery)
l Battery: 900mAh, 1300mAh
l Memory: 2GB NAND, 512Mb SDRAM & Trans Flash external memory
l Intenna
l 15pi Speaker, Stereo headset’
l 2.2” QVGA (320 X 240) 262k Color TFT LCD
l AMSS4.3 based BREW® 3.1 Platform
About MediaFLO:
Engineered specifically for the mobile environment, FLO technology offers several advantages over other mobile multicast technologies, including higher-quality video and audio, faster channel switching time, superior mobile reception, optimized power consumption and greater capacity than other multicast technologies. Specific performance features of FLO technology in a 6MHz channel include:
· Support for transmitting up to 20 streaming channels of QVGA-quality (320x240 pixels) video at up to 30 frames per second, 10 stereo audio channels (HE AAC+ parametric stereo) and up to 800 minutes of distributed Clipcast™ content per day (short-format video clips)
· An average channel switching time of less than two seconds
In addition, FLO technology-based multimedia multicasting will complement wireless operators' CDMA2000®/EV-DO and WCDMA/HSDPA cellular network data and voice services, delivering content to the same cellular handsets used on these 3G networks.
The MediaFLO system is an end-to-end solution that enables multicasting of high-quality video, audio streams, Clipcast media, and IP data-casting to mobile handsets. It is comprised of the MediaFLO Media Distribution System (MDS) and FLO technology. The MediaFLO system is a manageable, scalable, subscription-based distribution system and an efficient over-the-air network solution that provides wireless operators a way to cost-effectively deliver the high-quality audio and video content their subscribers’ desire. More information about the MediaFLO system is available at www.mediaflo.com.
Pantech is an active member of the FLO Forum (www.floforum.org). The FLO Forum is a multi-company initiative committed to advancing the global standardization of FLO technology, including compliance and certification benchmarks for the technology. Composed of more than 30 industry-leading organizations, the FLO Forum works to develop products and services, based on FLO technology, that enable the delivery of advanced multimedia services to wireless consumers.
About Pantech:
Pantech, through its affiliates - Pantech Co., Ltd., Pantech&Curitel Communications, Inc. and Pantech C&I Co. - is the number two mobile phone company in South Korea and is the seventh largest handset manufacturer in the world. Pantech has been responsible for a number of breakthrough innovations in the mobile technology sector, including the introduction in 2004 of the world's first fingerprint recognition camera phone, as well as award winning camcorder, MP3 and DMB phones. In 2005, Pantech affiliate Pantech&Curitel Communications acquired SK Teletech Co., the handset manufacturing arm of SK Telecom, the number one mobile network operator. The SKY brand, originally marketed by SK Teletech as the most popular premium handset brand in South Korea, has since become part of the Pantech brand portfolio. Pantech markets its products under the SKY and Curitel brands in the domestic Korean market and under the Pantech brand overseas. Pantech collectively has approximately 5,000 employees and 22 regional sales offices worldwide. For more information on Pantech, please visit www.pantech.com or www.curitel.com/english.
