Pantech makes Latin America push, better late than never

To make up for their belated entrance, Korean cell phone makers are aggressively making inroads into Latin American markets. The Yeouido, Seoul-based Pantech Group said yesterday it will establish a local subsidiary in Argentina later this month to strengthen its operations in Central and South America. The group began business in Argentina in December of 2005 by providing models to CTI Movil, Argentina’s No. 2 telecom service company. Although Pantech was late to enter the market, its bar-type camera phone has been topping the CTI subscribers’ sales list, above Nokia and Motorola, the company said. Pantech has also been actively marketing its phones in Uruguay, becoming the main sponsor of a convention hosted by CTI Movil in February. Last week, it was one of the main sponsors for the Estilo Alcorta fashion show, which was attended by about 35,000 spectators, including fashion industry figures and media. The Pantech Group said it plans to aggressively try to expand its market share by releasing new models later this year, targeting major events such as the local Mother’s Day in October and the December Christmas season. “The Argentine market is the third-largest market in Central and South America following Brazil and Mexico and is therefore very important. Recently, demand has dramatically increased and there is fierce competition among service companies as well as manufacturers, which is spurring mobile phone subscriptions at an increase of 7 percent a year,” said Kim Geon-chang, a senior official of overseas business at the Pantech Group. “We hope to expand our business in the future to other Latin American countries such as Colombia and Paraguay.” In Argentina, Pantech aims for a market share of 7 percent in the cell phone sector by the end of this year, which will mark the first anniversary of its entry into these markets. For 2007, the group hopes its market share will climb above 10 percent. Earlier this month, Pantech began selling two models in Chile through Smartcomm ― one of which includes an ultra slim camera phone. The company also sells phones in Brazil and Mexico. Korean electronics companies began to do significant business in Central and South America only after President Roh Moo-hyun visited Brazil in 2004. LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics now both have production plants in Brazil. by Wohn Dong-hee