Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[Mindy]

BEIJING, Dec. 27 -- SK Teletech Co., a unit of South Korea’s leading mobile operator SK Telecom Co., said Sunday it had won the business license for a handset manufacturing joint venture in China.

SK Teletech Co. will hold a 60 percent stake of the joint venture, SK Mobile China Corp., while the remaining 40 percent will be held by two Chinese companies: Datang Telecom and Tech Co. Ltd. and Tiandi Group Telecom Industry Co.

The new venture, with an initial paid-up capital of US$25 million, would supply phones for code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile networks in China, a SK Teletech spokesman said.

It would target the high-end mobile phone market and was expected to generate US$100 million in revenue next year and more than US$600 million by 2007, the spokesman said.

The move is part of SK Telecom’s strategy to diversity its sources of revenue as its wireless phone operations in South Korea has been confronting a saturated market and increasing regulatory pressure.

Earlier this month, SK Teletech said it planned to sell mobile phones in China under the SK brand of SK Telecom.

SK Teletech hopes to become one of the world’s top 10 mobile phone makers by 2007 to keep up with its domestic rivals including Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG Electronics Ltd.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-12/27/content_2384694.htm

(Source: Shenzhen Daily-Agencies)