Pantech is firing a flare to let people know about its revival by starting to produce Push to Talk (PTT) terminals to Public Safety-LTE.
According to communication industries, Pantech as a subcontractor will supply PTT terminals to KT Consortium (KT, Winitech, Itcen, and KRTnet Corporation) that is working on first project (Pyeongchang) of Public Safety-LTE’s demonstration project.
310 Smartphone-types and 338 walkie-talkie-types in total of 648 terminals will be used for first project, and Pantech will supply about 100 Smartphone-type terminals out of these.
“Pantech decided to work together by letting KT know that it has an intention of supplying terminals when the deadline for turning proposal of demonstration project was approaching at the end of last month. It is known that Pantech also submitted a same proposal to SK Telecom.” said a person associated with KT Consortium.
KT decided to work together with Pantech because one of the goals of Public Safety-LTE project is to promote small and medium-sized businesses in South Korea. Samsung Electronics (Smartphone-type) and AM Telecom are also supplying terminals to KT Consortium.
Although Pantech had developed cellphones with PTT function in the past and observed Public Safety-LTE business closely, it could not prepare properly due to workouts and legal management. However it is said that Pantech decided to participate when Solid-Optis Consortium bought Pantech.
It is predicted that it will start supplying terminals in April of 2017. If it shows excellent performance of terminals during demonstration project, it has a good chance of being selected again for an official project.
It seems that a possibility of Pantech pushing for global Public Safety-LTE projects is high by putting out a reference of ‘world’s first Public Safety-LTE for all of South Korea’.
However it still has many tasks to complete. Because it needs to supply LTE-based multimedia function immediately, it has many functions that it needs to develop. Smartphone-Type Public Safety-LTE terminals fundamentally need to have variety of standards.
They need to have liquid crystals that are 4-inches or bigger, built-in speakers with 1 W output or more, batteries that last a whole day, and level IP55 of waterproof and protection against dust.
From a function perspective, it needs to able to do group calling, video group calling, individual calling, multilateral full-duplex calling and others. Although it is not in the list of standards, number of callers at the same time needs to be a minimum of 250. Its delay in calling needs to be less than 500 ms (0.5 s), and Public Safety-LTE requires total of 37 functions.
“Since a list of standards made by Ministry of Public Safety and Security only has basic standards, businesseson scene actually require stronger terminals. Because it will be hard for fire and police departments to just go off of IP55 standard, Pantech needs to build strong terminals.” said a person in this industry.
It is predicted that Pantech will manufacture Public Safety-LTE terminals in a form of subcontracting at current Kimpo Factory or through other terminal manufacturers. Participating in Public Safety-LTE projects will provide new opportunities for Pantech to enter disaster and safety fields.
Staff Reporter An, Hochun | hcan@etnews.com