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To: Anthony who wrote (15819)	9/30/1998 9:53:00 PM
From: SKIP PAUL	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

10-01-98 Mobile Handset Market May Race Overcrowded Competition By Nam In-soo Staff reporter SK Telecom, the nation's leading mobile communication service provider, plans to enter the crowded handset market, which is raising concerns about overheated competition in the industry, business sources said yesterday. An SK Telecom spokesman said the company recently established SK Teletech, a joint venture with Kyosera Co. of Japan, to specialize in marketing code division multiple access (CDMA) handsets. He added that SK Teletech, in which SK Telecom owns a 72.5 percent share, has already lined up automated teller machine maker Sewon Telecom, to produce between 20,000 and 30,000 handsets per month on an original equipment manufacture (OEM) basis beginning early December. According to industry sources, KT Freetel, a personal communications services (PCS) carrier, is seeking an alliance with Hyundai Electronics Ind. Co. to also produce handsets on an OEM basis. SK's decision, however, is causing a stir among existing handset makers, who are concerned another entry will damage the industry which is already marked by cutthroat competition among 10 makers. Handset manufacturers said their combined production capacity has reached 24 million units per year, far beyond the global demand for CDMA-based handsets, which is currently scaled at 15 million units. Manufacturers are also accusing SK Telecom, which owns half the 11 million mobile phone subscribers, of transferring CDMA technology to the Japanese telecom equipment maker through the joint venture. Korea, which first commercialized the CDMA technology developed by U.S.-based Qualcomm, maintains a competitive edge over Japanese firms in CDMA-based handset production, the sources said. Kyosera officials also said it plans to establish a foothold in the Korean handset market through SK Teletech and seeks to develop next generation mobile terminals. SK Telecom denies the allegations of local handset manufacturers. ''It is nonsense. The Japanese firm already makes handsets based on the technology,'' the SK Telecom official said. He added that handset producers are opposing SK's entrance into the market only because they fear their market shares will diminish.

To: Anthony who wrote (15819)	9/30/1998 9:54:00 PM
From: SKIP PAUL	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Some Good News!! 10-01-98 Mobile Phone Users Top 12 Million The number of mobile phone users in Korea has topped 12 million. According to a tally of the Ministry of Information and Communication, the total number reached 12.01 million as of Sept. 27. The figure represents a four-fold increase from the three million at the end of 1996. The rapid growth was fueled by a heated competition among the five operators _ two cellular carriers and the PCS trio _ since last October when the personal communications services (PCS) were launched. During the one-year span, the PCS trio _ KT Freetel, Hansol PCS and LG Telecom _ have attracted a combined total of over 4.6 million subscribers. Their growth rate averaged 31.9 percent a month, 10 times higher than that of their two cellular competitors _ SK Telecom and Shinsegi Telecomm. Together, the two had 7.38 million users, 5.52 million for SK Telecom and 1.86 million for Shinsegi. The five operators predict that wireless service users in Korea will grow to 12.25 million in 1998, 15.63 million in 1999 and 18.58 million in 2000. The unprecedentedly rapid growth was also powered by the operators' competitive subsidy provision to their subscribers to lower handset purchase costs. From January 1997 to June 1998, the five players had spent a total of 2.12 trillion won in subsidy. During the first half of this year alone, the subsidies totaled 1.3 trillion won. Especially, the PCS trio all spent more money in subsidy than their sales revenues during the first half of the year. This generous subsidy provision has brought huge losses to all but one of the five carriers. The exception was SK Telecom which posted a net profit of 125 billion won on a sales revenue of about 1.39 trillion won during the first half. The ministry's report said the 12.1 million subscription total speaks for the fact that wireless phone service has now taken firm roots in Korean society as a necessity. When seen in tems of sales revenue, wireless services have caught up with wireline services and are seen to have a larger share of the market next year.