SK Telecom to invest US$1b in Beijing
SK Telecom and other South Korean companies will invest US$1 billion to build a digital content development centre in Beijing, to capture expected strong demand after the commercial launch of 3G services on the mainland.
The group's announcement yesterday follows Microsoft Corp's statement last month that it would invest US$280 million in the Chinese capital to build a research and development centre.
SK Telecom yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the central government to develop the International Digital Contents and Industrial Design Complex, as it seeks to boost the growth of the mainland's digital content and design industries.
It will set up a consortium with other SK units, including SK Engineering and Construction and SK C&C, to build a 200,000 square metre complex in Yizhuang for what will be the Beijing Culture City. The centre is scheduled for completion by 2013.
SK Telecom, which has a 6.59 per cent stake in China Unicom, aims to become more involved in the mainland's TD-SCDMA 3G business.
So far it has been focusing on the mainland's CDMA mobile business through its relationship with China Unicom.
However, the partnership is likely to be affected by the recently announced restructuring of the mainland's telecommunications industry as the CDMA business will be acquired by China Telecom.
SK Telecom was rumoured to have contacted China Telecom early this year for a possible partnership with the mainland's largest fixed-line operator of the CDMA platform.
'We look forward to seeing China's rich cultural assets reinvented into new digital content products, such as games and video, and eventually being exported to the global market along with TD-SCDMA technology,' said Shin Bae Kim, SK Telecom's chief executive.
'With the commercial 3G communication services soon to be available locally, SK Telecom expects sharp growth in demand for the digital content industry,' the firm said.
'The company could be in the best position after the restructuring even if it didn't secure a partnership with China Telecom over the CDMA business,' a source said yesterday, adding that the company had experience operating a TD-SCDMA network in Seoul.
SK Telecom has been investing aggressively in the mainland, including buying a 30 per cent stake in a mainland online game developer for US$7.8 million.
