In other business news... state-run Korea Telecom has launched a company that will take up its third-generation mobile service business.

The president of the new company said KTI-COM will roll out a nationwide 3G network for a variety of mobile services by the end of two-thousand-four.

The South Korean government awarded 3G licences in December to two consortia each led by Korea Telecom and SK Telecom.

SK Telecom launched its 3G group... SK IMT... early this month.

The government plans to give out one more licence by the end of the first half of this year.

The third generation mobile technology is expected to provide high-speed Internet access, data, video and CD-quality music services.

3G should allow data to be sent and received at least 5 to 25 times faster than current 2G speeds.