IT 100 Special Report 2006 >

  THE INFOTECH 100 COMPANIES
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64

LG TeleCom

(KOSDAQ: A032640)

Korea

Investing in latest technology isn't necessarily the short-cut for success. LG Telecom, the smallest of Korea's three mobile carriers, is the only one still not upgraded to 3G networks but proved the best performer last year. Its 2005 operating profit jumped 161% to $361 million on sales of $3.7 billion, up 9%. To make up for the technological disadvantage, it has forged alliances with banks and brokerage houses to offer mobile financial services. LG uses its partnership with banks to expand its retail presence: It sells phones and signs up new subscribers at some 1,000 bank branches in addition to its 1,300 storefronts. Last year, the company saw a 7.2% rise in the number of subscribers to 6.51 million -- not a bad increase in a market where the penetration ratio is 80% of the population.

Company Info

2005 Rank

73

Sales*
($ Millions)

3,702.0

Sales Growth
(over prev. year)

9 %

Profits*
($ Millions)

261.7

Return on Equity

19.9 %

Total Return on Sales (12-mo.)

232.9

Share Price
As of 5/31/06

13.93

CURRENT
MARKET INFO

KOSDAQ: A032640

No. of Employees

Industry Telecommunications
COMPANY WEB SITE >
*Trailing 12 months
Stock price data as of 5/31/06
DATA: Standard & Poor's Compustat

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Company Snapshot

LG TeleCom provides mobile telecommunications services primarily in Korea. The company offers wireless Internet service, ez-I, which provides a range of content, email, character/melody downloads, games, stock trading/banking, shopping/reservations, traffic information/location-based service, and entertainment. It also offers, btob, a service designed for corporate customers that offers various solutions, including telemetry, mobile credit card payments, mobile banking service, mobile office, and logistics/distribution. In addition, LG TeleCom provides various m-commerce services, including Ez-Pass, mobile payments, infrared credit card purchases, and mobile coupon service, as well as stock trading, banking services, and shopping. Further, the company provides mobile telecommunication network technology, including network design, setup, optimization, and operation, as well as consulting for data services related to WAP-based wireless Internet service infrastructure setup, JAVA/JINOS-enabled handset solutions, and multimedia application technology. As of Sept. 30, 2004, it had 6,073,782 subscribers. LG TeleCom was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Seoul, Korea.


Data provided by Capital IQ
 
Nam Yong

Nam Yong

President and Chief Executive Officer

Nam Yong was previously a director at Zenith Electronics. He was executive vice-president of LG Electronics and president of Multimedia Div., LG Electronics, from December, 1997, to October, 1998. He was executive vice-president of LG Group chairman's office from January, 1997, to December, 1997. He was senior managing director of LG Group chairman's office in 1996. He was managing director of LG Group chairman's office from 1993 to 1995.



Executive Data provided by Capital IQ