SOUTH Korea is one of the world's biggest market for telecommunications products and services, but it's a tough market to crack. And the Korean market is doubly hard for Singapore companies to break into because they are small and lack the resources.

International Enterprise Singapore's answer to this twin problem is the Singapore IT/Wireless Consortium which pool the resources and offerings of four local companies - ComSOC Technology, Freesystems, GlobalRoam Group and muvee Technologies.

'This consortium acts as a cost-effective business link with any company in Korea,' said James Leong, chief executive and president of ComSOC, the hardware IT firm that's leading the consortium. 'The opportunities are not restricted to current members only,' he said.

'We should encourage other SMEs' participation to better enhance the underlying objectives of this consortium.'

Added Clarence Tan, CEO of GlobalRoam, a provider of mobile VAS and VoIP solutions: 'Breaking into a new market is no mean feat for any company, let alone a SME. By being part of the consortium under the iPartners scheme, we are able to leverage on the resultant synergies and push more strongly for a successful foray in Korea.'

Launched in October 2003, the iPartners scheme is the vehicle runs by IE Singapore to back the formation of alliance among Singapore companies to break into global markets. 'The formation of the Singapore IT/Wireless Consortium led by ComSOC, a Singapore-based company with sound knowledge of the Korean market, will be an effective platform for our companies to capture a sizable share of the market,' an IE Singapore spokesman said.

'The consortium will leverage ComSOC's network and market their products and services as a group to Korean companies.'

With each member company in the consortium having different offerings, IE Singapore said the group can provide a full range of IT/Wireless products and services to the customers according to their needs.