By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Throughout its 11 years existence, Hanarotelecom has always been stuck in second place. Now, the country's runner-up fixed-line telephony and broadband Internet carrier is about to find out whether changing its name is enough to shift its destiny.
Following approval from its executive board, Hanarotelecom was officially renamed SK Broadband as of Monday, a change that has been expected since the company was bought by SK Telecom, the country's largest mobile telephony operator, in February.
The company's ``Hanafos'' broadband Internet service is now to be called ``broad&'' while its ``Hanafone'' fixed-line telephony service was renamed as ``broad&fone.'' The ``HanaTV'' video-on-demand service is now to be called as ``broad&tv.''
It bears further watching whether adding ``SK'' to its logo will help the company shed its reputation as an industry afterthought. After all, KT, SK Telecom's chief rival in the local telecommunications industry, controls more than 90 percent of the country's fixed-line telephony customers and nearly 45 percent of the broadband Internet subscribers, leaving little room left for growth.
Additionally, SK Broadband is still struggling to recover from the fallout of a highly publicized data theft case, for which it was hit with a 40-day suspension earlier this year for using the personal information of its six million plus broadband customers in illegal marketing schemes.
Bombarded with class action lawsuits and enduring a significant migration of angry customers, SK Broadband's corporate image is at an all-time low, alarming for a company that had always been regarded as second-rate, and is now desperate for a new start.
SK Telecom tried to save face by pushing legal action against Hanarotelecom's former owners, including Newbridge Asia HT, accusing them of failing to report the investigation on illegal marketing activities during purchase talks, but the damage had already been done.
Cho Shin, SK Broadband's chief executive, hopes that SK Telecom's solid reputation in the wireless market and its 23 million plus customers can provide a breakthrough for the struggling fixed-line operator.
``This is more than just about a name change,'' said Cho.
``As a part of the SK Group, we expect to emerge as the leader in the age of telecom convergence,'' he said.
The company plans to win back customers with its ``bundled services,'' allowing customers to buy fixed-line and wireless telephony, broadband Internet, Internet telephony and Internet protocol television (IPTV) services together at a discount.
By combining its offerings, SK Broadband hopes to take advantage of SK Telecom's larger customer pool by luring wireless subscribers to migrate toward its broadband offerings.
SK Broadband currently has 760,000 customers for the broad&tv video-on-demand services, which gives them a base for the full-blown IPTV services expected to be commercially launched at the end of the year.
The company is also fully committed to push voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), hoping to snatch fixed-line customers away from KT by pitching cheaper Web-based phone services. SK Broadband is targeting 300,000 VoIP customers by the end of the year.