Thailand'sCAT Telecom willpartner with South Korea's SK Telecom Co. Ltd. to enter the Thai electronic paymentmarket, The Nation reported July 19. 

Surapant Meknavin, acting president of state-owned CAT, toldthe newspaper that the two telcos are set to announce a joint venture toprovide an e-payment gateway service. SK Telecom will own 51% of the JV, calledTree Pay Co., with registered capital of 200 million Thai baht, according toanother CAT executive cited in the report.

Expected to be launched this quarter, Tree Pay seeks toprofit from the growing amount of business done online in Thailand, which isreportedly estimated to have a value of more than 10 billion baht. 

As of July 19, US$1was equivalent to 35.05 Thai baht.