SK-EarthLink Fit For The Stars

When EarthLink and SK Telecom announced their $440 million wireless joint venture in January it prompted a lot of
interest and questions.

Where would it be based? Besides CEO Sky Dayton who would fill the
management team? How would the new wireless company compete against
entrenched giants like Verizon and Cingular?

Today, the company supplied some answers. SK-EarthLink’s headquarters will be
in the Westwood section of Los Angeles, rather than Silicon Valley or
Atlanta, where EarthLink is based.

“SK-EarthLink chose L.A., as it is the center of technology and
entertainment,” Brooke Hammerling, a spokeswoman on behalf of SK-EarthLink said.
“Content is incredibly important and L.A. is where it is at.”

As for staffing, Dayton, who previously founded EarthLink and Wi-Fi
network aggregator Boingo, is drawing talent from both sides
of the joint venture.

Wonhee Sull will serve as COO. Sull was most recently CTO of SK Telecom
wireless data business, where he launched multimedia and mobile commerce
services and developed a real-time billing system.

Under Sull are vice presidents: Brent Cobb, strategy and business
development; Jay Lee, products and services; Inho Shin, technology; and Terry
Boyle, operations.

Other key leaders include: Todd Tapping, CFO; Stuart Redsun, executive vice
president of marketing; and Ali Zanjani, executive vice president of sales and
distribution.

The executive team is already in place in Los Angeles. Overall, there are
more than 100 employees at SK-EarthLink, and there will be no set number of employees, Hammerling said.

“Our goal is to revolutionize the wireless experience in the United States,
and we have assembled a team worthy of that lofty objective in record
time,” Dayton said in a statement.

SK-EarthLink did not release details about its third-generation
services, which are expected to be offered under the new brand near the
first quarter.

Industry-watchers are watching to
see how the service will be different from other multi-media offerings
starting to come from U.S. carriers.