By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
With its former boss behind bars on corruption charges, beleaguered mobile-phone operator, KTF, now hopes that its new chief executive Kwon Haing-min can guide them out of its monumental mess.
And it’s clearly not a job anybody would be envious of. The 49-year-old will be given six months to make a difference at a time when prosecutors are expanding their investigation into telecommunications giant, KT, the wireless carrier’s parent company.
Kwon, a senior executive of KT, replaces Cho Young-ju who resigned after being arrested on charges of taking 2.4 billion won (about $2 million) in kickbacks from equipment suppliers.
It would be hard for Kwon to call all the shots as CEO, as he is already consumed as the leader of KT’s Cross Functional Team. KTF officials said Kim Gi-yeol, who had been acting as the interim head since Cho’s arrest, would continue to share CEO duties with Kwon.
``Kwon can’t afford to concentrate only on KTF in this situation,’’ said a KTF official.
In a released statement, Kwon said, ``I feel great pressure and responsibility to head KTF in a time of emergency. The first priority would be restoring the company’s image that was damaged from the prosecution’s investigation and stabilizing our organization.’’
KT, which has been struggling to find growth beyond the saturated fixed-line telephony market, had been planning to complete its merger with KTF by the end of the year, and it would be Kwon’s job to guide the progress forward.
That would certainly be a difficult task, especially when KT President Nam Joong-soo, who also faces suspicions of taking dirty money from suppliers, is about to weather the criminal investigation with a cast around his neck.
Just days after prosecutors said they were looking into allegations that Nam took money from equipment makers, the 53-year-old checked himself into a hospital in Seongnam where he received surgery for a slipped disc in his neck.
Prosecutors, miffed by the timing of Nam’s surgery, are planning to summon him sometime after Friday when he is to be discharged.
There are allegations that Nam, who headed KTF from 2003 to 2005, received around 100 million won from BCNe Global and other subcontractors. Investigators are also looking into the possibility that the money was used to bribe politicians.
Should prosecutors confirm Nam’s involvement in business irregularities, Nam’s job status could also be in jeopardy, which would cause further disruption to business plans.
The KT-KTF merger is only one of the crucial business decisions the companies will be involved in by the end of the year. The government is expected to reallocate the 800mhz band currently used solely by SK Telecom at the end of the year, and KTF is certainly interested, considering the spectrum's clear advantage in communications.
KTF is also locked in a dead-heat competition with SK Telecom in the third-generation (3G) telecom market and hopes to retain its slight edge in the segment.