SK beats path to India on coming phone boom

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SK beats path to India on coming phone boom

Korea’s largest mobile phone operator, SK Telecom Co., is on the verge of forging a partnership with one of India’s four largest telecommunications service providers to launch mobile services there, SK Telecom vice chairman Cho Jung-nam said yesterday. “Tata Teleservices Ltd. in India recently offered us very good contract options, thus we will sign an investment deal very soon,” Mr. Cho said in an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo. Market watchers forecast that with its population of 1.1 billion, India has the potential for an explosion in the number of mobile phone subscribers, which currently stands at “just” 55 million or so. Mr. Cho said he is also looking for opportunities to offer mobile telecom services in China, a market where SK Telecom currently offers only wireless Internet content. His business strategy of ratcheting up overseas operations is based on the belief that with the market in Korea saturated, further growth in the country will be severely limited. SK Telecom posted 4.9 trillion won ($4.8 billion) in revenue in the first half of this year, up only 3 percent from the same period last year. “SK Telecom will be committed to making the best of opportunities in three countries ― the United States, China and India,” Mr. Cho said. “We [expect to] attract 80 million customers from those nations by 2008 so that our revenue can expand to as much as 25 trillion won from the current 10 trillion won,” he added. Taking into account population and market size, Mr. Cho said his company will be able to gain 30 million new subscribers from the United States, 30 million from China and 20 million from India. SK Telecom operates in Vietnam and Mongolia, and made a foray into the North American market early this year. The firm formed an alliance with U.S. wireless operator EarthLink and the two companies plan to spend a combined $440 million over the next five years in a joint venture in which they both hold 50 percent. The service is expected to begin late this year. by Kwon Hyuk-joo
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