SK Telecom Co, South Korea's largest mobile-phone operator, will help China develop its own standard for wireless networks, seeking access to the world's biggest cell-phone market by subscribers.

The alliance is the first that China's government has signed with an overseas operator for the third-generation technology known as TD-SCDMA, which allows faster downloads of movies and music, the Seoul-based company said in a statement. SK Telecom bought US$1 billion worth of bonds convertible into shares of China's second-largest mobile-phone company in July. China's homegrown standard needs to win customers to compete with rival technologies developed by Nokia Oyj and Qualcomm Inc.

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