UPDATE 1-SK Telecom eyes CDMA JV with China Telecom-paper

(Recasts with SK Telecom, China Telecom comments)

HONG KONG/SEOUL, April 23 (Reuters) - South Korea's SK Telecom Co (017670.KS) aims to team up with China Telecom Corp Ltd (0728.HK) for a possible mobile service joint venture in China, the South China Morning Post said on Wednesday.

SK Telecom, South Korea's top mobile carrier, said it had not contacted China's leading fixed-line operator China Telecom but was monitoring market conditions ahead of an expected restructuring in China's telecom industry.

China has long said that it intends to restructure its telecom sector and award licences for third-generation mobile services.

A sector reshuffle is expected to give the fixed-line players China Telecom and China Netcom Group (0906.HK) a foothold in the high-growth mobile market.

"We have not contacted China Telecom. Our cooperation with China Unicom will continue," said Ryu Mina, an SK spokeswoman.

"We are studying some contingency plans. But we won't take action until the restructuring plans are announced."

SK Telecom owns 6.6 percent of China Unicom Ltd (0762.HK), China's No. 2 mobile operator, after converting its earlier $1 billion investment in convertible bonds into stocks. SK hopes the ties with China Unicom to pave way for it to grow in China, to eventually secure a piece of the mobile service market.

A spokesman for China Telecom said in an emailed statement the company would wait for "clarification of regulatory policies...before having any substantial discussion with potential strategic investors".

The South China Morning Post said SK was approaching China Telecom for a possible joint venture to operate mobile service using code division multiple access (CDMA) technology in China.

It was rumoured that China Telecom would buy China Unicom's CDMA network under the restructuring to help it defend its shrinking market share as land-line users switch to a mobile platform offered by market leader China Mobile (0941.HK), the paper said.

It cited a source as saying SK would prefer a CDMA joint venture with China Telecom with a near-term focus on building a successful CDMA business in China. SK operates 3G services on both CDMA and rival GSM networks in South Korea. (Reporting by Donny Kwok and Vinicy Chan in HONG KONG and Rhee So-eui in SEOUL; Editing by Keiron Henderson)