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KT Boss Goes One Up on KCC Chairman

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Telecom Firm Suspected of Cutting Deal Directly With Finance Ministry for Big Investment Plan

By Kim Tong-hyung

Staff Reporter

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country's converged regulator for broadcasting and telecommunications, is barely two years old, but is already facing an identity crisis.

And the threat is coming from the unlikeliest source ― KT, the country's biggest telephone and Internet provider that the KCC had been touting as the model company for the era of digital convergence.

KCC officials were struggling to answer questions by reporters Thursday after the Ministry of Strategy and Finance announced plans to combine KT and state-run banks in a special purpose entity (SPE) to invest in the network infrastructure for next-generation telecommunications services such as WiBro and Internet protocol television (IPTV).