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KTF starts overseas investor road show


KTF, the country's second-largest mobile phone service provider, embarks on a three-week international tour today to attract investors in Asia, Europe and the United States.

The investor road show led by chief executive Nam Joong-soo will provide detailed information on KTF's recent market performance and future business plans as Korea's fastest-growing mobile service provider.

KTF officials plan to visit Singapore, Hong Kong, Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States.

"The investor briefing will focus on KTF's marketing progress after the implementation of number portability and the company's successfully efforts in securing new customers through its diversified mobile data services," said KTF official Kim Beom-jun.

"The investor road show is focused on foreign shareholders and institutional investors that expressed interest in investing in our company in the past," he added.

KTF is the country's second-largest mobile service provider behind SK Telecom, controlling 11.5 million of the country's 35 million mobile phone users for a 32.3 percent market share. The company, which posted 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion) in revenue for 2003, reported first-quarter revenues of 1.4 trillion won and 48.7 billion won in net income.

KTF has been focusing on expanding its market share under number portability, which enables cell phone users to switch service providers without changing their phone numbers.

Number portability, introduced on Jan.1, currently applies only to SK Telecom subscribers, as regulators intended to strengthen the market positions of KFT and No. 3 operator LG Telecom. Industry insiders estimate that about 530,000 SK Telecom users switched to KTF as of this month.

SK Telecom controls 53 percent of the country's 35 million cell phone users, while LG Telecom has a 14.6 percent share.

KTF hopes that their growing user pool of cdma2000 1x EV-DO services, the company's third-generation solution, will be a critical revenue source in the second half of this year by increasing average revenue per user. KTF controlled about 1.7 million EV-DO users in the first quarter.

KTF has increasingly set its sights on the global market by providing technical solutions and consulting in network architecture, wireless Internet platforms and marketing.

KTF signed a $13 million deal with Indonesia's CDMA service provider Mobile-8 to provide business consulting on wireless network management. The company also sold its self-developed NMS (Network Management System) solution to Mobile-8 for $4.5 million.

KTF has also signed a contract to participate in a wireless network building project by China's second-largest mobile operator China Unicom, while agreeing with Australia's top mobile operator Hutchison Telecommunications to provide network management solutions through 2011.

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2004.05.24

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/05/24/200405240020.asp