Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
News >> Technology >>
Korean firm keen on buying stake in Tata Teleservices
By siliconindia
|
Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 19:30 IST
PUSAN (SOUTH KOREA): KT Corp, South Korea's top fixed-line and broadband service operator, is interested in buying a stake in Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL), as part of its global expansion drive, a senior executive told a news agency on Tuesday.
"We've opened the communication channel with Tata" for the equity investment, the official said.
Tata, the telecoms arm of India's powerful Tata conglomerate and the country's second-largest provider of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) based mobile services, plans to sell 30 per cent of its Rs 40 billion ($864.6 million) equity capital, a media report said previously.
KT, which carries 95 per cent of South Korea's local voice calls and supplies half of its broadband connections, has set business convergence with mobile service operators as one of its fresh growth drivers.
The firm has come under pressure from stumbling growth in voice calls, with customers switching to mobile services and rival operators offering cheaper tariffs.
India has close to 36 million mobile users and the number is expected to cross 100 million by 2005 thanks to one of the cheapest call rates in the world.