Firm in talks for China Unicom
By Li Weitao (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-07 09:02 A spokesman with the State-owned parent of Hong Kong-listed China Unicom
declined to comment on the report on SK's possible acquisition of a stake in
Unicom.
But China Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing said in March, when
releasing financial results for 2005, that the firm planned to introduce a
strategic investor from home or abroad to improve the performance of the CDMA
business.
In 2005 alone, China Unicom's CDMA service suffered a loss of
about 200 million yuan (US$25 million).
The introduction of SK Telecom as
an investor, if successful, could help Unicom to turn around its CDMA business,
said Qiu Lin, an analyst with the Beijing-based research house Analysys
International.
"SK Telecom's strong capability in marketing and
developing compelling mobile applications could be attractive for Unicom," the
analyst said.
SK Telecom has been providing some consulting services for
Unicom. Investing in Unicom could also help SK Telecom develop its telecoms
value-added service and Internet-related business in China, Qiu said.
SK
Telecom in 2004 established a joint venture with Unicom to develop telecoms
value-added services.
SK Telecom's Internet affiliate, SK Communications
Co, acquired Chinese Internet portal ViaTech for US$6 million in 2004 and
launched a Chinese-language version of its popular Cyworld weblog services in
the following year.
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