Korea's SME federation seeks to set up 4th mobile carrier

South Korea's umbrella federation of small and medium-sized enterprises on Monday said it will seek to set up the country's fourth mobile carrier as part of an ongoing effort to boost growth of local venture firms.

   The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business said after holding a board meeting that it plans to invest less than 100 billion won ($94.2 million) in the proposed consortium made up of SMEs from the information technology sector.

   It stressed that since the purpose of entering the mobile carrier market is to help smaller companies and create new growth capabilities, the consortium will be led by SMEs.

   "The plan has been approved by the affiliated organizations such as the Korea Venture Business Association, the Korean Women Entrepreneurs Association and the Innobiz Association," the federation said.

   It added that unlike SK Telecom Co., which holds half of the country's mobile phone market, and KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp., the new company will not seek commercial services of long-term evolution technology but will focus on fourth-generation wireless broadband (WiBro) services.

   Kbiz also said large conglomerates such as Samsung Electronics Co. may be permitted to join the consortium.

   "No details of which companies will participate in the consortium have been touched, but because Samsung controls the basic technology for WiBro, it will be fitting if the company joined," the federation said.

   Samsung has tried unsuccessfully to enter the mobile carrier market twice in the past and had invested around 40 billion won worth of materials into the failed Korea Internet network.  

   Kbiz said other conglomerates are invited to join since they can contribute to the funding and technology. (Yonhap News)