South Korea's top mobile phone company SK Telecom Co. announced Wednesday it will spend as much as 1 billion U.S. dollars on China Unicom Ltd. convertible bonds early next month as an effort to engage in the world's largest mobile phone market.

"China is an attractive telecom market, with growth in both quantity and quality," SK Telecom Chief Executive Officer Kim Shin- bae said in a statement.

"The strategic alliance through the purchase of convertible bonds will give SK Telecom a foothold for us to directly make inroads into the Chinese market." Kim plans to sign a contract to buy the bonds at 6 p.m. (1000 GMT) on Wednesday in the Beijing headquarters of China Unicom, the Yonhap News quoted officials of the company as saying.

SK Telecom now holds more than half of South Korea's wireless market, totaling 39 million subscribers.

Source: Xinhua