KTF Eyes Mobile Market in Malaysia
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
KTF, South Korea’s No. 2 mobile service provider, said Monday that it has decided to jointly buy Malaysian mobile carrier U Mobile Sdn Bhd with Japan’s mobile provider NTT DoCoMo.
Under the deal inked in Tokyo, KTF and NTT DoCoMo will invest a combined $200 million to purchase a 33 percent stake in the mobile operator, the company said in a statement.
The joint investment upon the approval of the Malaysian government will give each mobile company a 16.5 percent stake with voting rights in the new market entrant, according to KTF officials.
U Telecom Media Holdings, a parent company of U Mobile, is also to invest $51 million in its affiliate.
The acquisition marks the first time the company will show off its WCDMA technology abroad.
``The deal means we have secured a stable and strong channel to gain a significant foothold in the promising Malaysian 3G market,’’ the company said, adding that it is seeking to post 500 billion won in annual sales and secure a cumulative 3.1 million subscribers by 2012.
``We plan to expand our overseas businesses in a bid to reap higher profitability. Specifically, KTF will obtain more than 10 percent of its sales from abroad by 2015,’’ KTF CEO Cho Young-joo said.
With help of the technology, the new Malaysian 3G mobile operator will launch commercial services from the first quarter of next year. U Mobile, headquartered in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, employed about 530 workers as of Oct. 31.
``Additionally, we intend to promote international roaming services via U Mobile 3G network for their respective customers traveling in Malaysia,’’ KTF said.
KTF is South Korea's No. 2 mobile operator with over 30 percent of the nation's 41-million mobile phone users. It has been stepping up efforts to preempt the 3G communications market to tackle market saturation in the local voice-centered 2G sector.