LG boss says government not to blame for standoff

LG Telecom president Nam Yong said yesterday that the government was not to blame for his company’s decision not to pursue any further business with IMT-2000, a third-generation mobile phone service that LG Telecom earned exclusive rights to four years ago. “The decision to withdraw from IMT-2000-related business was the right one for our shareholders and for the telecom industry,” Mr. Nam wrote in a message posted on the company’s Web site. “When we first obtained the rights to IMT-2000 we thought that there would be a shortage of frequencies, but due to further advances in technology, the 1.8 GHz bandwidth that we are using now can accommodate more than 16 million people. “If we invested in IMT-2000’s 2 GHz bandwidth, we would be making an overlapping investment,” he said. Mr. Nam said he didn’t think that the government’s policy to pursue IMT-2000 was a failure and that the Information Ministry had in fact helped the company in many ways. Mr. Nam did not attend the hearing yesterday, which was held at the Information Ministry to discuss LG Telecom’s decision to give up rights to IMT-2000. The ministry has been saying that LG Telecom violated local laws because it reneged on a written pledge to start using IMT-2000 services this year. The ministry has also called on Mr. Nam to be fired. by Lee Weon-ho