KT
KT plans to spend 3 trillion won in building highly-advanced networks over the next five years and create 25,000 new jobs. The company aims to secure the future revenue sources by circulating lots of virtual goods throughout its advanced networks.
KT had a press conference in celebration of the fourth anniversary of its merger with the former mobile phone operator KTF, with its CEO and Chairman Lee Suk-chae and other executives attending, on June 11 at the Olleh Square located in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.
Chairman Lee told the reporters, “The virtual space is a network-based stage and no one can estimate the size. It will be no less challenging space for human than physical space.”
KT will open a full-fledged giga-byte Internet era by investing 3 trillion won in highly-advanced networks, apart from the existing networks, by 2017 and activate the virtual space where virtual goods can be freely traded. In this process, KT expects to create 25,000 jobs.
KT’s strategy is to lead the smart revolution through early construction of giga-byte Internet networks that can provide easy access to virtual goods at a low cost, regardless of wire and wireless. In this regard, KT is expanding its business portfolios to non-telecommunication areas such as mobile, finance and payment, media, and rental.
The chairman said, “To avoid the same sort of failure as in the fixed-line phones (PSTN), the mobile carriers should create various kinds of network-based services or have such services traded and consumed throughout the networks. That’s the way they can survive and why our KT is challenging new businesses in the non-telecommunication sector.”
Some criticize KT’s business expansion as a sort of Korean conglomerates’ sprawling investment.The chairman responded to this criticism, saying “The world’s giant conglomerates such as Microsoft (MS), Amazon, Google and Apple had many excellent engineers but still took over lots of venture start-ups to make up for their weakness. KT’s business expansion is based on virtual goods, so it needs to be engaged in various business categories such as media and real estate, or sometimes take over venture start-ups.”
Next month, KT will unveil the world’s first web-based IPTV which has grafted the open platform OS on its current IPTV called “Olleh TV.”
The web-based IPTV will be a two-way communication tool with which anyone can easily create contents and participate in developing services. Consequently, it will be able to provide an unlimited number of channels. KT expects to make it easier to find the contents you want and accelerate the computerization of TVs.
“Our innovations in networks and platforms will open a huge amount of business opportunities in the domestic network equipment and software market, which will not lead only to mutual growth of large and small businesses and cost savings but also to more entrepreneurship and quality jobs,” the chairman emphasized.