ASIA : SK Telecom announced the launch of a Stock Investment Information Service called NATE through the wireless Internet, starting on November 28th. NATE offers stock investment reports made by 65 stock trading firms and research institutes.

The NATE service reports are made by a total of 65 securities firms and institutes. These consist of 32 securities firms (including Samsung Securities, Daewoo Securities, and Mirae Asset Securities), 9 economic research institutes (including Samsung Economic Research Institute and LG Economic Research Institute), 10 financial institutes (including The Federation of Korean Industries and The KOSDAQ Stock Market), 6 futures trading firms (including Kookmin Futures and KEB Futures), and banks (including Korea Exchange Bank and Korea Development Bank).

The NATE service furnishes a variety of summarized stock trading reports categorizing highly recommended stock purchases, expected low PER stock, investment opinion changes, interesting stock reports, etc. These classifications let users easily access the reports via the wireless Internet.

Currently, each securities firm or institute provides its own information reports through the Internet. If customers want to simultaneously use many reports made by a variety of different securities firms or institutes through the Internet, their use fee is very expensive. However, if customers use the NATE service, they can use all of the reports for a KRW29,900 monthly flat rate.

If customers want to use the service, they have to connect to NATE and use the following menu: ¨ë Stock Lottery Bank Money > ¨è Stock > ¨ì Professional's Opinions about individual stocks and the Current Stock Market, plus > Stock Investment Information Services. They can also apply for the monthly flat rate using this menu. SK Telecom plans to provide this service through a wired portal site called MONETA (www.moneta.co.kr).

Jin Seok Cha, head of SK Telecom's m-Finance Business Division, stated- "We are providing a total Stock Investment Information Service that lets customers access a wide range of stock trading content. This service is a first for a mobile communication service provider in Korea. We will continue to develop even more convenient and differentiated services for the customer" he added.