SK Telecom, POSCO vie for Powercomm

SK Telecom and Pohang Iron & Steel Co. are considered the strongest contenders to win the wired communications business project.

The two companies have secured an identical 5% stake of 7.5 million shares in the bidding for equity sale of Powercomm, a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corp. Other leading telecommunications companies such as LG, Samsung and Thrunet did not take part in the bidding.

KEPCO disclosed the results of the public tender for the sale of Powercomm `s equity, which was held July 24 at the head office of Dongwon Securities Co.

KEPCO officials said that 49 companies, including SK Telecom, Shinsegi Telecomm, POSCO, Hyosung and Hanaro Telecom, had tendered bids. Among them, 20 companies, which satisfied the target price set by POSCO. The winners were selected in the order of the amounts they offered.

Powercomm, as a key company for wired communications business, has 43,000 kilometers of optical cable and 38,000 kilometers of coaxial cable.