Best Asian Telecom Carrier | SK Telecom (Korea) |
Telecom CEO of the Year | Narisamhan Srinath, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VNSL) (India) |
Best Mobile Carrier | NTT DoCoMo (Japan) |
Best Managed Services Provider | BT Asia-Pacific (UK) |
Best Broadband Carrier | PCCW (Hong Kong) |
Best Emerging Markets Carrier | Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) (Philippines) |
Best Satellite Carrier | PanAmSat (USA) |
Best Competitive Carrier | True Corp (Thailand) |
Best Indian Carrier | Bharti Tele-Ventures (India) |
Best Chinese Carrier | China Mobile (China) |
Best New Tech | HSDPA |
Most Outstanding PTT Transformation | Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) (India) |
SK Telecom, VSNL, NTT DoCoMo claim Asia's top telecoms honors
Phuket, April 24, 2006 - Korea's SK Telecom, VSNL of India and Japan's NTT DoCoMo have taken honors in the top three categories in the 2006 Telecom Asia Awards, presented here tonight.
SK Telecom, the leading mobile operator in the tech-savvy Korean market, snared the top place as Best Asian Telecom Carrier - the first time a Korean company had won the award - because of its strong financial performance and market and technological leadership.
N. Srinath, Executive Director of VSNL, was named Telecom CEO of the Year for his role in turning the former monopoly into a leading international wholesale carrier.
NTT DoCoMo, Japan's biggest cellular operator, took the Best Asian Mobile Carrier prize for its continued leadership in mobile data services and improved market performance.
Ten carriers from around the region were presented with their trophies at a ceremony at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Phuket.
The Awards are the most prestigious honors program in Asian telecommunications and have been presented annually since 1998.
Other recipients included BT Asia-Pacific (Best Managed Service Provider), PLDT (Best Emerging Markets Carrier) and PanAmSat (Best Satellite Carrier).
In the special country awards for the region's two fastest-growing markets, Bharti Tele-Ventures and China Mobile took the honors for Best Indian Carrier and Best Chinese Carrier respectively for the second consecutive year.
The new mobile network technology HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) was voted Best New Technology.
The award winners were chosen for their combined financial, market and technology strengths based on financial analysis and assessments by a 18-member judging panel. The judges are backed by a research team at IDC, a leading provider of global ICT research and advice, and using a combination of its extensive communications research in Asia/Pacific and financial analysis of the carriers.
Best CEO winner, Mr Srinath, said: 'It is an honor to receive this award which is recognition of the great strides that VSNL has made in the last few years in re-inventing itself to compete in a global marketplace. I am pleased to accept this on behalf of all the people who have helped make this happen.'
Robert Ferguson, Managing Director of Questex Asia, publisher of Telecom Asia, said: 'These awards are intended to reward outstanding performance in Asian telecommunications. The depth and diversity of the winners underlines the good health and innovation evident in the industry today. I congratulate all of this year's winners and thank IDC and the judging panel for their contributions.'