[Editor's Note] The history of communications is the history of human constant efforts to connect. Since prehistoric times, the function of communications has served as a means of communication and promise for humans, who are social animals. In Korea, telecommunications was first introduced in 1888 during the Joseon Dynasty, and the information age began in the 1980s after liberation with the rapid development of communications businesses and technology. Now, as we enter the 5G and 6G eras, we are looking at satellite communications and quantum communications, which are considered the next-generation communications. With the development of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robots, cloud computing, and UAM, communications are becoming increasingly important and are expected to continue to develop endlessly. Communications is the most basic and core technology that spans almost all fields. In this series, our magazine will cover various aspects of communications, from the history of communications to minor incidents, technologies, and trends.

■ Qualcomm Dominates CDMA Mobile Communication Standards
SKT, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, announced that it was selected for the IEEE Milestone for its contribution to the commercialization of CDMA along with the history of 40 years of mobile communications. Since the introduction of the first generation (1G) wireless communications, Korea’s successful commercialization of the ‘CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)’ technology for the first time in the world can be seen as a record-breaking achievement in the history of the domestic communications industry.

It was also thanks to CDMA technology that digital voice transmission and SMS (short message service) were introduced in the second generation (2G), opening the era of 'one phone per person' rather than 'one household'. At the time, the US and Europe were adopting the TDMA (time division multiple access) method, but the difference in performance was not as great as the FDMA (frequency division multiple access) method, and the CDMA method, although theoretically difficult, had the advantage of being able to increase capacity by more than 10 times compared to the analog method in response to the explosive increase in demand for mobile communications.

Qualcomm developed and supplied semiconductor chips after demonstrating its technology by manufacturing CDMA base stations and mobile phones, and supplied communication chipsets to terminal manufacturers such as LG Electronics, Sony, and Motorola. In 1993, Qualcomm of the United States and ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) signed a CDMA commercialization contract, and when establishing digital mobile communication standards in 1995, they adopted the CDMA method as the single standard.

In Korea, an ecosystem of network operators, infrastructure suppliers, and device manufacturers has been established. SKT (Korea Mobile Telecommunications) established the Mobile Communication Technology Development Business Management Group. ETRI, Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics succeeded in developing their own CDMA equipment in about a year after starting full-scale commercial system development. After that, they demonstrated a CDMA-based call without interruption for about 10 km at an information and communications exhibition in 1995, and successfully commercialized the CDMA digital mobile communication system in 1996.

It is no exaggeration to say that our country was able to become a mobile communications powerhouse thanks to the hard work of the researchers who sweated for this. From 1989 to 1996, ETRI researchers established an in-house CDMA operations headquarters, and the research expenses alone amounted to approximately 99.6 billion won, with 1,042 researchers participating. In addition, Qualcomm has earned over 5 trillion won in profits in Korea alone through AP over the past 10 years.

The price of mobile phone terminals was gradually decreasing. In Korea, in 1995, Samsung developed the ultra-small and lightest digital phone, SCH-100. It was priced at 750,000 won at the time. Also, Motorola's first CDMA digital terminal was priced at 700,000 won. LG Information & Communications released the world's first CDMA commercial terminal in 1996 at 790,000 won.

From this time on, the public began to consider not only the quality of the mobile phone, but also the design, including color and size. Samsung's SCH-600 caused a shortage of core Qualcomm components, and certain models became popular, causing a shortage of mobile phones. Also, Samsung's SCH-800, Korea's first foldable phone in 1998, was popular for its smallest size at the time.

■ The multimedia era begins
After SKT, ETRI, Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics succeeded in commercializing the CDMA digital mobile communication system, SKT launched 'Speed 011'. Based on improved quality, the number of subscribers increased significantly, expanding coverage to 78% of the national population in just 9 months after commercialization and reaching 98% in just 2 years. Three years later, in 1999, the number of mobile phone subscribers exceeded 10 million. In addition, after using foreign equipment and terminals, the company soon succeeded in domestically producing equipment and terminals.

The growth of the mobile communications industry led by CDMA led to technological advancement. With the advent of the digital world, people were able to experience high speeds on various communication media without the constraints of time and place. Wireless multimedia services that combined communications and broadcasting, such as FAX, PC, Internet, VOD, DVD, and MP3, also began.

This marked the beginning of the 3rd generation (3G) mobile communications era. As PC communications became active, the demand for multimedia such as video, images, music, and games in addition to phone calls and text messages also increased on mobile phones. In 2000, based on the commercialization of CDMA2000 1X, SKT succeeded in the world's first synchronous IMT-2000 (CDMA2000 1X EV-DO) video test call on January 28, 2002. In 2002, it achieved wireless video calling, and in 2006, it achieved the world's first commercialization of HSDPA.

Now, people could enjoy high-speed Internet searches at up to 2.4 Mbps data transfer speeds, as well as two-way data transfer services. Video, high-resolution video calls, and photo mail services also began in earnest. In 2004, the world's first music portal Melon appeared, and various portal sites such as Naver and Cyworld were launched, allowing people to communicate with each other. In particular, in addition to system development, Korea actively participated in international standardization, and achieved many results in securing core original technologies, such as reflecting wireless transmission technologies discovered in Korea in international standard planning.

The development of 3G technology has promoted the spread of smartphones. The changes such as being able to easily access the Internet and taking pictures with a camera on a mobile phone were groundbreaking factors. It is no exaggeration to say that this was the period when technology was growing the most rapidly, literally opening up a smart world. This has led to the provision of many functions in various fields such as mobile games, shopping, and finance.

The next episode will cover 4G (LTE), 5G, and 6G mobile communications.