SK Telecom yet to decide on buying P1 stake

Thursday April 15, 2010


By Leong Hung Yee


hungyee@thestar.com.my


PETALING JAYA: SK Telecom Co, South Korea’s largest mobile-phone operator, which has reportedly been approached by Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd (P1) to buy a stake in the latter, has yet to make any decision.


“Nothing has been decided,” Bloomberg quoted Irene Kim, a spokesman of SK Telecom, as saying.


According to a news report, SK Telecom was among a few foreign telecommunications companies interested in buying a stake in P1, a subsidiary of Green Packet Bhd.


The sale of a 20% stake in P1 could potentially raise about US$100mil, the report said.


Green Packet group managing director and chief executive officer CC Puan did not confirm nor deny the news. “It’s our company policy not to respond to any rumours and speculation,” he said when contacted yesterday.


While analysts believed the funds would enable P1 to accelerate its network rollout, they said P1’s newly acquired WiMAX licence in Singapore and east Malaysia would require even more investment.


P1’s next line-up will be the deployment of WiMAX in east Malaysia by the second half of this year. It will also extend its services to Singapore, marking its transformation into a regional 4G WiMAX player.


A bank-backed analyst said WiMAX was a big thing in South Korea and Malaysia had the potential in growing WiMAX services given the low penetration rate here. “It makes sense for SK Telecom to buy into P1 but the backing from South Korea doesn’t mean they (P1) can be a winner,” he said. He cited the example of U Mobile Sdn Bhd, which despite the backing of NTT DoCoMo of Japan and KT Freetal of South Korea, did not really take off in the market
“We’ll have to wait and see if the (SK Telecom-P1) partnership will work out,” he said, adding that he was unaware of other suitors for the stake in P1.


Another analyst said SK Telecom may see P1 as a good avenue to expand into the growing broadband market in Asia.

“For SK Telecom, the real appeal in investing in P1 will be gaining a firm strategic partnership with Green Packet, which develops, manufactures and markets a range of low-cost WiMAX modems and related equipment,” he said.

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