SK Telecom to pull out of Vietnam

SK Telecom Co. plans to shut its Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City offices this year and pull out of Vietnam, according to a spokesman for the company.

The Korean mobile phone operator will close its office in Hanoi at the end of January. The news was initially reported by Lao Dong newspaper today.

Its Ho Chi Minh City office will remain open for now to settle any issues related to the S-Fone network it built in 2001 with joint-venture partner Saigon Post and Telecommunication, Duong Van Binh, spokesman for SK Telecom in Vietnam, said by telephone from Hanoi.

The Ho Chi Minh office "may" be closed by the end of June, Binh said. "It would mean SK Telecom is pulling out of the Vietnam market," he said, without giving a reason.