Korean mobile operator SK Telecom has renamed recently acquired Hanarotelecom as SK Broadband. The company's Hanafos broadband internet service is now called 'broad&'' while its Hanafone fixed-line telephony service was renamed 'broad&fone', the Korea Times reports. The HanaTV video-on-demand service is now called 'broad&tv'. Cho Shin, SK Broadband's chief executive, hopes that SK Telecom's solid reputation in the mobile market and its 23 million plus customers can provide a breakthrough for the struggling fixed-line operator. "This is more than just about a name change,'' said Cho. "As a part of the SK Group, we expect to emerge as the leader in the age of telecom convergence." The company plans to win back customers with its bundled services, allowing customers to buy fixed-line and mobile telephony, broadband internet, internet telephony and IPTV together at a discount. SK Broadband currently has 760,000 customers for the broad&tv video-on-demand services, which gives them a base for the full-blown IPTV services expected to be commercially launched at the end of the year. SK Broadband is targeting 300,000 VoIP customers by the end of the year.
