NOK color phones?? Haven't seen one yet but COLOR is 70% of Korean Mkt.
S Korea telecom stocks higher on foreign interest/strong results
library.northernlight.com.
SEOUL (AFX-ASIA) - Telecom stocks were higher, extending their gains for a second day, on sustained
foreign investor interest after the companies posted strong 2001 results, dealers said.
At 10.57 am, SK Telecom was up 2,500 won at 259,500 and KT up 2,100 at 52,800 on the main board, while
KTF was up 1,200 at 42,300 and LG Telecom up 530 at 7,820 on KOSDAQ.
"Telecom companies' 2001 results turned out to be impressive, distinguishing themselves from their global
peers," Korea Investment Trust & Securities industry analyst Kim Sang-yun said.
Kim noted that foreign investors have shifted towards telecom stocks and away from semiconductors and
defensives.
"Telecom stocks have been long under pressure, far lagging other stocks since last September," due to
concerns over supply increase, he said.
SK and SK Global failed to sell their cobmined 14.5 pct stake in SK Telecom to NTT DoCoMo while KT
plans to complete its privatisation by selling about a 30 pct stake to local investors within the first half.
"Given their stable cash flows and strong fundamentals, the stocks look pretty cheap and that's why foreign
investors are moving into the counter," he said.
The 2002 outlook is also positive, with sales seen growing by some 10 pct and revenue from wireless
data service seen doubling.
"CDMA 1x color mobile handsets account for some 70-80 pct of total mobile handset sales, which
suggests strong growth potential for 3G business," he said.
Marketing costs will likely increase but fall short of the sales growth rate with the local market near
saturation, while capex will remain limited as telecom service operators postpone the launch of 3G IMT-2000
services until 2003.
The latest efforts by the leading carriers to buy established internet portal sites such as Daum Communication
and Lycos Korea are largely seen as "very positive and essential to developing new revenue streams," he
said.
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