SK Telecom and Earthlink Begin Joint Venture

EarthLink, Inc. (www.earthlink.net), the nation's next generation Internet service provider, and SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM), Korea's leading mobile communications company, today announced a definitive agreement to form a joint venture to market wireless voice and data services in the U.S.

"This partnership reflects 30 years of combined experience that EarthLink and SK Telecom have gained anticipating and delivering innovative Internet applications and wireless services," said Garry Betty, EarthLink president and chief executive officer.

SK-EarthLink will combine the competitive advantages of its parent companies to deliver, for the first time, an innovative suite of wireless services and applications that meet the information, entertainment and communications needs of U.S. consumers.

The joint venture marks SK Telecom's first ever strategic partnership to enter the U.S. market to grow its worldwide subscriber base.  SK Telecom is one of the world's most advanced wireless carriers, with more than 18 million customers and over 50 percent of the mobile services market in South Korea. 

The new entity, to be called SK-EarthLink (www.SK-EarthLink.com) and capitalized with $440 million of partner investments over the next three years, will be a non-facilities-based nationwide mobile virtual network operator ("MVNO"). 

EarthLink has more than five million subscribers and has been a leader in delivering award-winning Internet services for 10 years.  Most notably, EarthLink is the first major ISP to offer a permission-based spam fighting feature and other innovative tools that block pop-up ads, spyware and phisher sites. 

"The wireless and Internet worlds are colliding, and neither will be the same again," said EarthLink founder and director Sky Dayton who will serve as chief executive officer of the SK-EarthLink joint venture.
EarthLink has a leading U.S. Internet brand, a subscriber base that fits the target customer group, established sales channels with a presence in over 18,000 retail stores, existing MVNO partnerships with major wireless operators, Wi-Fi experience, network data centers and billing capabilities. 

Under the terms of the agreement, EarthLink and SK Telecom will each have a 50 percent ownership stake in SK-EarthLink. EarthLink and SK Telecom will each appoint three members to the six member board of directors.