The government said Tuesday that it will allow so-called mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) to sell their mobile phone services through the country’s state-run postal service provider starting from September, in a bid to help lower mobile rates and households’ communication bills.MVNOs borrow networks from existing mobile carriers at wholesale prices, thus offering their services at cheaper rates compared to existing mobile operators.They can offer cheap mobile rates because they do not sp

South Korea took the third spot among 143 countries in terms of the number of secure Internet servers in 2011, the country's ministry in charge of IT and science said Tuesday.The country had 2,496 secure Internet servers per million people in 2011, the third-largest after Iceland and the Netherlands, the Ministry of ICT, Science and Future Planning said, citing data compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF).Secure Internet servers are servers using encryption technology in Internet transactions

SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest chip supplier, signed a deal with the Chinese city of Chongqing for chip testing and packaging, the Seoul-based company said on Monday.Under the agreement, the two sides will establish a joint corporation based on a memorandum for investment. Chongqing will be responsible for the backend processing involving mainly the testing and packaging of chips, the company said. SK Hynix appeared to believe that the investment would be mutually beneficial, with the chip

GS EPS Co., a local energy firm, said Monday that it will spend 300 billion won ($269.5 million) to build Asia’s No. 1 biomass generation plant in a bid to tap deeper into the renewable power industry.The envisioned plan calls for GS EPS to construct the plant that will use a mix of agricultural byproducts to generate electricity in Dangjin, some 123 kilometers south of Seoul.In a groundbreaking ceremony held earlier in the day, the company said it plans to complete the plant by August 2015. The

LG Electronics Inc., the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, said Monday that it plans to spend 120 billion won ($107.8 million) to beef up its environmental safety program, including chemical spill prevention, by 2015. LG also said it will expand the number of chemical experts and improve its fire protection system as part of the plans. The investment plan came after a highly poisonous hydrofluoric acid leak at Samsung Electronics Corporation’s main chip plant took place on Thursday in the

Samsung Electronics Co. said Sunday that it successfully developed a core technology of the fifth-generation network (5G) for the first time, aiming to enable users to access faster data services by 2020.   The new wireless technology will enable customers to access a stream of data faster than the current fourth-generation network and download an entire movie in less than a second, the world's largest smartphone maker said.   Under the new platform, users can download and upload data at speeds

LG Electronics, the world’s No. 3 smartphone maker, has released its Optimus G Pro smartphone in the U.S., the Seoul-based company said Friday. The launch follows the release of a 5.5.-inch Optimus G Pro at home in February, and the full HD smartphone launched by Japan’s NTT DoCoMo in March.The latest phone features an IPS display consuming 50 percent less energy, despite being twice as bright as AMOLED screens of the same size, the company said.U.S. customers can pick up the latest version of t

International Data Corporation Korea will hold its annual conference to deliver an informative overview on issues reshaping the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets at InterContinental Seoul COEX on May 15.Under the theme “Unlocking Value from the 3rd Platform: New Buyers, Offerings and Competitors,” the IT Directions 2013 Conference will provide insight into the industry’s transition to the next-generation computer platform -- built on big-data, cloud, mobi

The Miami Heat recorded its most lopsided playoff win in franchise history and inflicted the heaviest such defeat on Chicago by beating the Bulls 115-78 on Wednesday, squaring their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series 1-1.Nine technical fouls, two ejections and a lot of pushing and shoving also injected some venom into the series, as the Heat turned what was a close game in the first half into a blowout.In Wednesday's other game, the Golden State Warriors withstood a big comeback from San An

Mobile Number Portability in South Korea still ran high over the past weekend as local mobile carriers lured subscribers with new pay plans and lower prices, industry sources said Tuesday.According to the sources, the country’s three mobile carriers ― SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. ― received a total of 105,035 MNP applications during the May 4-6 period, nearing an all-time high of 116,055 MNP applications seen late last month.The figure translates into around 35,000 mobile telephon

LS Group, a South Korean conglomerate specializing mostly in electricity materials, said Wednesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Dongfeng Motor Group to cooperate in developing parts for electric cars and hybrid automotives.Under the deal, the South Korean business group will work with the Chinese automaker for the development of power trains, energy storage components and other parts used for automotives, according to the group.Also, the two groups will cooperate

SK Telecom Co., South Korea’s leading mobile carrier, said Monday that its daily data transfer topped 1 petabyte in line with the growing use of smartphones and tablet computers in the country. According to SK Telecom, data transfer on its mobile network topped the milestone on April 26, becoming the country’s first mobile operator to set such a record. A petabyte is a measure of data, and one petabyte is a million gigabytes. The figure includes data traffic on the third-generation network, WiFi