Flarion Technologies scored another goal for itself and the small band of alternative wireless broadband access equipment suppliers today by announcing a trial with SK Telecom (Nasdaq: SKM), the leading Korean mobile operator, with more than 16 million customers.

When a major champion of CDMA decides to trial equipment from a supplier such as Flarion, currently number one in our ranking of privately-held wireless companies (see Unstrung's Top 25 Startups), that's a big hint that this alternative equipment has something to offer the carrier community.

"CDMA has proved itself as good technology for advanced data services," says Phil Marshall, director of the wireless mobile technologies group at Yankee Group. "This really demonstrates that SK is looking at alternative technologies as a possible overlay to what they already have in high-demand markets."

Flarion's Flash-OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) technology uses a digital modulation technique that splits the signal into several different strands at different frequencies, making it more spectrally efficient than 3G technologies such as CDMA 2000 or WCDMA by a factor of four or five. Its base stations overlay existing cell sites and spectrum and provide a routing interface to existing IP networks. The vendor claims that deploying its infrastructure to provide data services can help mobile operators deliver secure IP services to business customers at between 10 percent and 20 percent of the cost of traditional CDMA and TDMA systems.

Flarion's equipment has already been trialed by Nextel Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTL) in the U.S.

Flarion's senior director of marketing strategy, Ronny Haraldsvik says the trial is likely to start in November and the timescale will be "open-ended." The testing will take place at SK's R&D headquarters near Seoul. The carrier will test the suitability of the equipment for wireless last mile and mobility services. The test area will cover between 30 and 50 miles. Flarion ain't saying how many base stations SK will use in the trial. However, the Haraldsvik says that six units can cover a 100 mile area.

There's still one minor problem to be ironed out before Flarion can get a little Seoul food -- SK Telecom and the South Korean government have to agree on exactly what spectrum can be used for the trial. "We don't expect any delays," Haraldsvik says, adding that Flarion has held off announcing the trial before now because of the spectrum issue.

News of the Flarion trial comes as SK Telecom subsidiary, SK IMT, enters an intensive phase of testing WCDMA kit from five vendors that have made its infrastructure shortlist -- Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics Inc., Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE/Toronto: NT), Alcatel SA (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP:PA), and Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK). At least two companies will provide network kit that reports suggest will be worth $230 million in total. Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERICY), Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LU), and Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) were eliminated earlier in the process. SK IMT, in which SK Telecom holds a 61.3 percent stake, is planning to offer services using WCDMA kit by the end of next year in the cities of Seoul and Busan in competition with KT Freetel Co. — Ray Le Maistre, European Editor, and Dan Jones, Senior Editor, Unstrung
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