Pantech to Unveil New Handsets in Mexico Exclusively to Telcel
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o Pantech targets increased share of fast growing Mexican handset market
o The company plans to reach its total sales volumes of 1.3 million units
Seoul, Korea - October 12, 2006: Pantech Group, one of the world's fastest growing handset manufacturers, announced today the launch of five new handsets as part of plans to further build its share of the rapidly expanding mobile phone market in Latin America.
The five handsets will be made available through Telcel, the largest mobile service operator in Latin America. Pantech, which established a dedicated subsidiary in Mexico last year, plans to increase its share of the local market by expanding the range of Pantech models on offer to Mexican consumers.
Ji-Kwan Kim, President, Pantech Mobile Mexico, said: "Since last year, we have significantly built up our operations in Mexico, in line with the rising demand for handsets with advanced multimedia features. Today's announcement is just the latest stage in our strategy to develop the Pantech brand in Mexico and to increase our presence in the region as a whole."
Among the handsets to be introduced to the Mexican market is the award-winning PG-6200, Pantech's newest fingerprint recognition mobile phone. Key features include a 2 megapixel camera supporting video clip recording and viewing, MP3 player functionality, and 20MB of user memory to store images and music files.
Earlier this year, the PG-6200 handset was honored at the prestigious iF (International Forum) Design Awards for excellence and innovation in the design of cellular phones.
The other new handsets include the PG-1310V, PG-1610, PG-3810 and PG-1810 phones. The PG-1310V is a clamshell style mobile phone with an exceptional range of applications for users, including a 1.5" 65K CSTN LCD, VGA CMOS camera, 40 polyphonic ringtones and voice scheduler. The PG-1610 slider phone is equipped with a 1.5" 65K CSTN LCD, VGA CMOS camera and speakerphone.
The clamshell style PG-3810 includes a 1.5" 260K main TFT LCD, 1.0" 260K sub TFT, VGA CMOS, and 64 polyphonic ringtones, while the PG-1810 clamshell phone has a 1.8" 260K main TFT LCD, 1.0" 65K CSTN, VGA CMOS and MP3 player.
Pantech entered the mobile phone market in Mexico in 2004, in an exclusive partnership with Telcel. Since the end of 2005, the company has become the fourth ranking manufacturer in Mexico in sales. Pantech Mobile Mexico, S.A.DE C.V. is a wholly owned subsidiary established last year to handle all Pantech's operations in the Mexican market.
Pantech plans to further expand its presence in the local handset market this year with estimated projected sales in Mexico of 1.3 million units in 2006.
About Pantech:
Pantech, through its affiliates - Pantech Co., Ltd., Pantech&Curitel Communications, Inc. and Pantech C&I Co. - is one of Korea's top three mobile handset makers and is the seventh largest handset manufacturer in the world. Pantech has been responsible for a number of breakthrough innovations in the mobile technology sector, including the introduction in 2004 of the world's first fingerprint recognition camera phone, as well as award winning camcorder, MP3 and DMB phones. In 2005, Pantech affiliate Pantech&Curitel Communications acquired SK Teletech Co., the handset manufacturing arm of SK Telecom, the number one mobile network operator in South Korea. The SKY brand, originally marketed by SK Teletech as the most popular premium handset brand in South Korea, has since become part of the Pantech brand portfolio. Pantech markets its products under the SKY and Curitel brands in the domestic Korean market and under the Pantech brand overseas. Pantech collectively has approximately 3,500 employees and 21 regional sales offices worldwide. For more information on Pantech, please visit www.pantech.com.
Media Contacts:
Pantech Young Cheol Ahn ycheolan6667@pantech.com +822-2030-1912
Yuin Yang sweetyuin@pantech.com +822-2030-1934
Edelman Steve Bowen steve.bowen@edelman.com +822-2022-8208
Jill Lee jill.lee@edelman.com +822-2022-8229
