SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics has established a strategic alliance promising mutual cooperation in the domestic and overseas markets.

SK Telecom’s CEO Kim Shin-Bae and Samsung Electronics CEO Lee Ki Tae held a ceremony on the 15th to agree on close cooperation in the global markets based on the cooperative relationship the two companies have built in the domestic market.

With the partnership, Samsung Electronics, which has already supplied "Drift" to Helio, serviced by SK Telecom in the U.S., will release additional Samsung mobile phones to Helio in 2007. It will also be introducing Samsung mobile phones through SK Telecom’s S-fone in Vietnam.

An SK Telecom personnel remarked, "Since Drift was launched in November, it has been gaining much popularity. The additional supply of Samsung mobile phones will be of great help to the Helio business," adding, "In Vietnam, where demand for high tech mobile phones are increasing, we will strengthen our market targeting efforts there through cooperation with Samsung Electronics."

The two companies have decided to cooperate in diverse areas in the domestic market next year, such as satellite DMB phones. They agreed on supplying 3 million units of approximately 20 models domestically and overseas next year.

SK Telecom’s CEO Kim Shin-Bae remarked, "No matter how good the service, there is no meaning if it is not revealed properly through handsets. Handsets are the most important factor for overseas market entry, and stable supply of these handsets through Samsung Electronics, the world’s most competitive handset supplier, will help boost foreign businesses such as in Vietnam and the U.S."

Samsung Electronics CEO Lee Ki-Tae remarked, "With more diverse services, competition in the international telecommunications market is intensifying, and we hope that cooperation between the two companies not only domestically but in overseas markets will bring about a win-win effect."