Telecoms Companies to Diversify, Eyeing IoT and Smart Grids

Telecommunication companies, faced with local market saturation and stunted growth, have rolled up their sleeves to seek a new growth spurt via different business fields.

Their plan is to find a breakthrough by stepping into the Internet of Things (IoT) market while diversifying into non-telecommunication areas such as smart grids, bio-pharmaceuticals, games, and security.

An industry expert said, “Once telecommunication companies’ new businesses take off, their competitions will be switched to wide-ranging industries including bio-pharmaceuticals and games, not to mention electronics companies such as Samsung Electronics. Their diversification is likely to accelerate.”

Korea Telecom (KT) announced on May 15 that it will open up a BioInformatics Center at SNU’s Bioengineering Research Center by July together with Seoul National University (SNU).

The newly-opened center will spearhead DNA analysis core solution development and DNA business exploration. KT will provide state-of-the-art Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for DNA analysis, while SNU will support with research space and research personnel.

DNA analysis technology will allow cancer prognoses and customized treatments suited to individual DNA characteristics.

SK Telecom held hands with a game company. The local telecommunication company made a strategic coalition with NHN Entertainment in a bid to stimulate a mobile game platform.

Under the new partnership, once the game company launches a new game, SK Telecom will provide data benefits so that its users can enjoy the game without worrying about the data costs.

Marriage between disparate businesses is setting in as a new trend. It stems from the judgment that the telecommunication service alone has little growth potential since the local wireless communication signup rate has reached 110 percent.

Collaboration is becoming increasingly diverse as well.

KT earlier inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) to develop a next-gen intelligent electric “smart grid”.

The collaboration is drawing a lot of attention in that number one local telecoms company is joining forces with the number one local electric power company.

Both companies are planning to penetrate the overseas market via jointly-developed smart grid technology.

A KT associate said, “We will nurture a new growth drive by building collaborations with companies of diverse backgrounds, including the biotech and electric fields.”

SK Telecom is also expanding into IoT, logistics, and healthcare. It is planning to launch an IoT-based Total Asset Visibility Service, by teaming up with LG and Hitachi. Also, the local company agreed to form a joint company to develop next-gen medical service models.

LG U+ Corp is also on a prowl in the field of electronic payments and security. The company joined forces with certificate verification company Dementor to resolve the problem of local electronic payment ActiveX certificate verification. Both companies will jointly develop and release a new verification service that will replace the current one. LG, hand-in-hand with ADP CAPS, is providing the world’s first IoT platform-applied LTE-based security control service.