[The Chosun Ilbo, April 22 2008] Telecom Heavyweights Hunt for New Market Strategies

With almost every Korean owning a cellphone these days the mobile market has come to a standstill.

SK Telecom's response can be seen in its recent purchase of Hanaro Telecom which has opened a new era for SK.

Since its establishment more than two decades ago, SK has become Korea's largest mobile carrier with over 20 million subscribers and a 50 percent share of the domestic mobile market.

Hanaro, the second largest fixed-line operator after Korea Telecom, owns HanaTV, the country's most popular video-on-demand service.

With this purchase SK is expected to make headway into broadcasting services as well eventually leading the way to full Internet protocol television.