After aggressive investments and marketing in overseas markets for years, major communication players, SK Telecom and KT, are beginning to reap revenue.
SK Telecom has been exporting various products including wireless Internet platform, mobile communication services, and mobile handsets to Indochina peninsula, China, Japan and other parts of the world.
Having launched CDMA mobile phone services in Mongolia, Vietnam, Daghestan, and Cambodia in the form of joint ventures with local enterprises, SK Telecom is poised to build a CDMA belt linking between Southeast Asia and Central Asia.
Further, SK Telecom signed an agreement with Alcatel Asia for joint development and marketing of m-commerce solutions under which SK will provide its mobile electronic purse service `nemo` to Alcatel Asia. The Korean leading communication carrier is also talking with counterparts in China to set up a joint venture company for wireless Internet service and another for manufacturing handsets.
With 9 joint venture firms in foreign countries including the United States, Japan and Vietnam, KT received orders from New Zealand, China and Vietnam this year to offer Internet-related technologies and system integration projects, as value-added businesses based on telecommunication service. Through its joint venture firm in Vietnam, KT exported ADSL products to that country worth 40 million dollars.
During the first half of this year, KTF agreed with Intel, Microsoft, and HP to join forces in exporting its products via global business networks of these multinational firms.
"Once export of telecommunication services are bolstered, it will provide a new impetus for growth to other IT industry in general which are suffering from stagnant domestic market," said Hong Won-pyo, director of global business division at KT.