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President Raised Voice to Give Penalty for Failure of Investment in WiBRO 2009/08/11 By Shim, Kyu-ho & Yoo, Hyung-joon While the government is considering the level of punishment on those companies with the WiBRO license for the failure of investment in the WiBRO business, the Presidential Office has expressed that the license given to these companies should be withdrawn or cancelled. In a practical term, withdrawing the license is unlikely. But, considering the hardliners raising their voices for the punishment, the penalty to those companies failing to the investment would be stronger than expected. A senior official of the Presidential Office said, “The WiBRO business is a new business where the license holders make investment with the frequencies, asset belonging to the public. But, the failure of the investment is a big trouble. The President believes that this issue should not be disregarded any longer.” He went on to say, “The final decision would be made by the Korean Communications Commission. But, this time, it will not watch and see. In principle, the licensed companies which failed to meet their promise for the investment should face strong penalties including the cancellation of the license.” If the license is cancelled or withdrawn, the CEO of the company should resign according to the license agreement with the government. When the license of the IMT-2000 business was returned, the CEO of the returning company resigned. Working groups as well as commissioners of the commission make different prediction over the potential judgment of the commission. But, they all agree that, this time, the penalty would not just an empty rhetoric. Particularly, those commissioners who strongly support the WiBRO business believe that the licensed companies should be enforced to implement their promise although their voluntary implementation would be the best choice. Lee Byung-gi, commissioner of the commission, said, “The licensed companies should make investment to expand the coverage of the WiBRO network nationwide.” However, most of insiders of the commission predict that the penalty would not go further to the cancellation. An insider of the commission said, “The decision is up to the general meeting. But, there has been no correction order issued relevant to the implementation of the WiBRO investment. Therefore, it would be unreasonable to cancel or withdraw the license right away.” Also, some commissioners raised their voices that the commission should think of the adjustment of the schedule if the investment for the nationwide coverage is too tough to the licensed companies.” Although it is not confirmed, the commission will consider various options such as the cancellation of the license, the suspension of business and surcharge, the correction order or the additional duties in the final judgment. An insider of the government said, “The surcharge according to the revenue would have no effect since the surcharge rate is only 3% of the revenue.” This is an implication that the penalty would go further than the surcharge. An insider of a licensed company said, “We are paying attention to the level of penalty of the commission. But, there are too many opinions to predict. Since the licensed companies already made a huge investment, no one will ever think of the return of the license.”