20300244 Entry 8

KT eyes wireless firms in emerging markets
KT, the country's top fixed-line operator, is keen on acquiring wireless firms in emerging markets, a senior executive told The Korea Herald.
The carrier is betting on overseas wireless investments, which require less time and fewer costs than fixed-line businesses, said executive vice president Kim Han-suk, who heads the firm's global business unit.
"We have focused on entering resource-rich emerging markets which have poor telecommunications infrastructure but have room for growth. ... We prefer mergers and acquisitions to greenfield investments," Kim said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
While the company generates most of its revenues from its domestic fixed-line telephone and internet operations, it sees huge growth potential in overseas wireless markets, he said.
"There are opportunities for us to enter overseas wireless markets swiftly and cheaply," he said.
Kim said the company is looking at investment opportunities in emerging markets such as Kazakhstan.
The carrier operates mobile firm New Telephony Co. in Russia and wireless internet firm Super-iMax - slated for commercial launch this autumn - in Uzbekistan.
This strategy in line with the company's efforts to generate new revenue streams as the domestic telecommunications market nears saturation.
KT is the dominant local fixed-line carrier, with 90 percent of the landline market and 44 percent of broadband connections.
It is also offering new products such as WiBro - a home-grown high-speed wireless technology - and Web-based television and phone services to drive growth.
WiBro, better known as mobile WiMAX overseas, allows users to surf the internet at speeds of 2-3 mbps while moving at speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour. WiBro made the world's first commercial debut in 2006 when KT and SK Telecom, the nation's two leading telecommunications firms, launched services.
KT is hoping to duplicate its local success in other countries. Making a foray into Central Asia, KT acquired a 60 percent stake in Super-iMax and a 51 percent stake in fixed-line carrier East Telecom in Uzbekistan in 2007.
KT also has a 79.7 percent stake in New Telephony Company, based in Russia's far east. NTC's market share skyrocketed to 44 percent in 2007, from 8 percent in 1997 when KT acquired the firm. From being a loss-making firm, it posted $40 million won in operating profit in 2007.
The Vladivostok-based firm is the largest mobile carrier in Russia's far east by subscribers. The company had nearly 1.1 million mobile, fixed-line and broadband subscribers as of the end of 2007.
NTC is also considering offering a bundled product comprising mobile, fixed-line and broadband services.
In 1995, KT purchased 40 percent of shares in Mongolia Telecom, which was owned by the Mongolian government. As the second-largest stakeholder, KT has contributed to the advancement of the Mongolian telecom industry via management consulting, educational programs and other efforts.
KT has also participated in a number of large-scale overseas telecommunication infrastructure building projects and has delivered several IT solutions.
Some of its successful projects include the deployment of 125,000 telephone lines in Bangladesh, broadband access network construction in Vietnam, and the setup of the operations support system for the 2006 Doha Asian Games in Qatar.
By Jin Hyun-joo
(hjjin@heraldm.com)
2008.05.02
My thought

KT is doing business not only in Korea but also in other countries. KT, well known as the dominant local fixed-line carrier, is not just domestic company now. They diversify the source of revenue from domestic market to global market. It is because they have to find the growing market and make a good investment in it for them to survive. Making firm grow is not the option but the nature of the firms. Otherwise, the firm will be disappeared.