LGIC to Build CDMA JV With ZTE Corp in Shenzhen, China
--From AOL. PS-OT Glad to be back. I only had CNBC and the WSJ for a week in Honolulu. Without SI, there is NO information!!!!!-- Cooters
Seoul, June 23 (Bloomberg) -- LG Information & Communication Ltd., Korea's second-largest mobile phone maker, said it will set up a distribution and manufacturing base in China, betting its technology will take off in the world's most populous country.
LGIC said it will invest $30 million in a joint venture with ZTE Corp. to set up a code division multiple access (CDMA) technology mobile phone system manufacturer in Shenzhen, China. The plant could serve as a base for production of phones, which have the new system known as IMT-2000.
``Our partnership with China's largest telecommunication equipment provider will help LGIC penetrate into China's CDMA market as well as the IMT-2000 market in the future,'' said Seo Pyeong Weon, LGIC's president.
Finding new markets for its products became more pressing after the Korean government banned phone handset subsidies paid by service providers to attract customers in a move that some analysts have forecast will cut sales in half this year.
LGIS said it expects to start production by the end of this year and will work on setting up factories and a distribution network in the second half of this year.
The company is hoping the Chinese government will choose CDMA as the technological standard for the countries current mobile phone network and future ``3G'' networks.
Unlike larger rival Samsung Electronics Co., LGIC has not yet successfully developed and produced phones and systems based on the European global system for mobile communication (GSM), which is used by 80 percent of the world mobile phone users.
LGIC, which is being taken over by affiliate LG Electronics Inc., fell 1.7 percent to 63,500 won and is down 66 percent this year.
Jun/22/2000 21:25 ET |
