DoCoMo Looks To Move Into Korea; Buying Into KT Freetel?
If you’re looking for innovative mobile operators, the two big names that always pop up are SK Telecom in South Korea and NTT DoCoMo in Japan. While both have been active in investing abroad (not always successfully), they really haven’t been known to compete head to head against each other. That might change. Apparently, DoCoMo is in talks to buy a significant stake in KT Freetel, the second place mobile operator in Korea. As the article notes, rumors along these lines have popped up before, but people seem to believe that this time it will happen. Of course, just having the investment, doesn’t mean that DoCoMo will easily transfer its magic over to Korea. Past investments (remember AT&T Wireless?) by DoCoMo haven’t always worked out so well.