S.Korean mobile phone giants seek network tie-up
Reuters, Friday April 4, 1:23 am ET
biz.yahoo.com
SEOUL, April 4 (Reuters) - The head of South Korea's second-largest mobile carrier, KTF Co, said on Friday it had offered to start in-depth talks with industry leader SK Telecom Co on the joint development of a nationwide telecoms network for next-generation services.
Chief Executive Nam Joong-soo told reporters that talks were urgently needed to avoid duplicating investment in W-CDMA services.
An agreement to cooperate would halve the companies' projected investment, saving them one trillion won ($797.4 million) each, Nam said.
His comment boosted shares in SK Telecom (KSE:17670.KS - News), which have fallen to three-and-a-half year lows on concern that it would overinvest. The stock rose 3.05 percent to close at 169,000 won, exceeding a 2.34 percent gain in the main stock index.
KTF (KOSDAQ:32390.KQ - News), which is listed on the over-the-counter KOSDAQ exchange, climbed 2.52 percent to 24,400 won, outpacing the broader index's 1.65 percent rise.
Construction of a nationwide telecoms network would mean South Korean companies would no longer need to rely on Qualcomm Inc's (NasdaqNM:QCOM - News) dual-band dual-mode chipsets, Nam said.
Shares in SK Telecom have lost more than a third of their value since it announced in January it would invest 2.1 trillion won this year in third-generation mobile phone technology.
The company holds a 53.62 percent share of the country's mobile phone market, which had 32.63 million subscribers as of February. KTF ranked second with a 31.67 percent share.
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S Korea KTF Seeks Devt Of W-CDMA Network With SK Telecom
Friday April 4, 6:06 PM
SEOUL (Dow Jones)
sg.biz.yahoo.com
KTF Co. (Q.KTF) will seek talks with rival SK Telecom Co. (SKM) regarding joint development of telecom network for third-generation wide-band code division multiple access, a KTF spokesman said Friday.
The spokesman, quoting Chief Executive Joong Soo Nam, said the joint development would help the companies save about 1 trillion won ($1=KRW1,258) each in duplicate investment. Without the joint development, the company estimates spending KRW2 trillion on the network, the KTF spokesman said.
However, in response, SK Telecom spokesman Kwon Chul-Keun said a joint development is "something that is realistically not possible at this stage."
"Given that both companies plan to launch 3G services in Seoul by the end of this year, it will be difficult with the short timeframe that we have," he said.
Shares of SK Telecom, the country's largest wireless operator closed Friday up 3%, or KRW5,000, at KRW169,000.
The Kosdaq-listed shares of KTF closed up 2.5%, or KRW600, at KRW24,400.
KTF, Korea's second-largest wireless operator, is an affiliate of fixed-line carrier KT Corp. (KTC).
-By Yun-Hee Kim; Dow Jones Newswires; 822-732-2165; yun-hee.kim@dowjones.com |
