WiBro (Wireless Broadband) is a wireless broadband Internet technology being developed by the South Korean telecoms industry. WiBro is the South Korean service name for IEEE 802.16e (mobile WiMAX) international standard.

WiBro adopts TDD for duplexing, OFDMA for multiple access and 8.75 MHz as a channel bandwidth. WiBro was devised to overcome the data rate limitation of mobile phones (for example CDMA 1x) and to add mobility to broadband Internet access (for example ADSL or Wireless LAN). In February 2002, the Korean government allocated 100 MHz of electromagnetic spectrum in the 2.3 - 2.4 GHz band, and in late 2004 WiBro Phase 1 was standardized by the TTA of Korea and in late 2005 ITU reflected WiBro as IEEE 802.16e (mobile WiMAX). Two South Korean Telcom (KT, SKT) launched commercial service in June 2006, and the tariff is around US$30.

WiBro base stations will offer an aggregate data throughput of 30 to 50 Mbit/s and cover a radius of 1-5 km allowing for the use of portable internet usage. In detail, it will provide mobility for moving devices up to 120 km/h (74.5 miles/h) compared to Wireless LAN having mobility up to walking speed and Mobile Phone having mobility up to 250 km/h. From testing during the APEC Summit in Busan in late 2005, the actual range and bandwidth were quite a bit lower than these numbers. The technology will also offer Quality of Service. The inclusion of QoS allows for WiBro to stream video content and other loss-sensitive data in a reliable manner. These all appear to be (and may be) the stronger advantages over the fixed WiMAX standard (802.16a). Some Telcos in many countries are trying to commercialize this Mobile WiMAX (or WiBro). For example, TI (Italia), TVA (Brazil), Omnivision (Venezuela), PORTUS (Croatia), and Arialink (Michigan) will provide commercial service after test service around 2006-2007. While WiBro is quite exacting in its requirements from spectrum use to equipment design, WiMAX leaves much of this up to the equipment provider while providing enough detail to ensure interoperability between designs.

Current Service

KT (Korea Telecom) offers Wave 2 (18.4 Mbit/s, 4 Mbit/s) for $22 a month with 30GB data usage.
The service able in Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi-do.
SKT (SK Telecom) offers Wave 2 WiBro Service for $18.87 a month with 30GB data usage.
LGT (LG Telecom) should be ready to upgrade the network system to 4G service in 2009

Network deployment

SK Telecom and Hanaro Telecom have announced a partnership to roll out WiBro nationwide in Korea, excluding Seoul and six provincial cities, where independent networks will be rolled out.

In November 2004, Intel and LG Electronics executives agreed to ensure compatibility between WiBro and WiMAX technology .

In September 2005, Samsung Electronics signed a deal with Sprint Nextel Corporation to provide equipment for a WiBro trial .