South Korean firms LG Electronics and Icom will use the 2002 FIFA World Cup to showcase their third-generation (3G) mobile phone technology, including a demonstration during the opening ceremonies that will be seen by billions of viewers.
When the games kick off on May 31, there will be a seven-minute show beamed on to the scoreboard using live video shot on LG's K8000 3G handsets and a wide-band code division multiple access (W-CDMA) network set up especially for the games.
LG's manager of overseas product planning Hyun-Bo Choi said: 'This is big. It will be the first time people have seen a phone with these capabilities.'
The phones will later be available for use at 14 booths at World Cup venues in Korea. In addition to recording and sending video clips and multimedia messages, the handsets can download and play news and replay key moments in the games on their large colour screens.
With about 70 per cent of the world's mobile phone users operating on the global system for mobile communications (GSM), the demonstration will provide a first opportunity for many people to see the capabilities of W-CDMA, and Korean firms hope the performance will boost sales of handsets and network equipment.
'We want to show people that W-CDMA really does work,' said Peter Kim, senior manager of LG's mobile division.