KTF denies report on smartphone development plan with NTT DoCoMo

SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- KTF Co., South Korea's No. 2 wireless carrier, denied a Japanese news report on Wednesday that said it was planning to co-develop a smartphone with NTT DoCoMo of Japan.

Nikkei English News reported earlier in the day that the two mobile carriers were
planning to develop a handset that uses Google Inc.'s Android operating system
with a 20-percent cheaper price tag than other similar models.
Similar to other wireless carriers and handset makers, KTF, as well as NTT
DoCoMo, are interested in various smartphone operating systems, but the two
companies never held discussions on the joint development of a smartphone model,
KTF said in a statement.
The two companies released a co-developed mobile phone model using
third-generation communications technology earlier in the year. The model, which
was released in both countries, did not have smartphone or mobile computing
capacities. NTT DoCoMo is currently the second-largest shareholder of KTF.