Korean operator ready to teach Vodafone and co a thing or two

The dominant mobile network operator in South Korea has admitted it is sharing the secret of its success with some of the West's biggest carriers, including Telefonica and the UK's Vodafone.

SK Telecom has pushed ahead with 3G services and Korea has seen average revenue per user - the all important ARPU measurement - increase as a large number of consumers make use of non-voice services.

Although Korean operators have a commitment to the W-CDMA 3G standard - like operators in western Europe, under the local pseudonym UMTS - several major operators in Korea and Japan have found success by migrating to CDMA2000, an alternative to W-CDMA.

"We are having discussions with several European companies, including Telefonica. Vodafone is also interested in our platform," Yoo Hyun-oh, VP SKT's internet strategy division, is quoted as saying in an interview with the FT.

SKT has previously set up a joint venture with China Unicom, an operator that uses CDMA technology, which for almost a decade has been the second-generation technology challenging the dominant GSM standard.

However, it is highly likely an operator such as Vodafone is looking to learn from SKT's wireless internet experience above and beyond issues of carrier network standards.

Vodafone is committed to the W-CDMA upgrade path for most of its networks, though Verizon Wireless in the US, a joint venture with US giant Verizon Communications, is a user of the CDMA2000 standard also used by SKT.