SK Telecom, Korea's largest wireless telecom operator, will look for ways of maintaining its stake in China Unicom<600050><762><CHU>, the second largest wireless telecom operator in China, at the existing 6.6% level, said sources citing Suk Hwan Lee, CEO of SK Telecom China region, as saying on Wednesday.

SK Telecom's stake would get diluted to 3.7% after China Unicom's merger with China Netcom<906><CN>, a part of the government's restructuring plan in China's telecom industry.
 
The Korean company will further strengthen its cooperation with China Unicom and seek opportunities to maintain the second largest shareholder in the Chinese operator.

Under the restructuring plan, Unicom BVI and Netcom BVI, the holding companies for China Unicom and China Netcom, will hold 40.92% and 29.49% stake respectively in the merged entity.

Considering the huge amount of money that SK Telecom may spend to raise its stake to 6.6% based on the merged entity's value, SK Telecom may not  have any immediate plans of investing more in China Telecom<728><CHA>, the largest fixed-line operator in China, as stated in earlier media reports.

 Source:China Knowledge