Shifting Focus to AI, Big Data, Cloud Businesses

KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo presents the company’s visions at the KT 2020 press conference held at the Grand InterContinental Parnas Hotel in Seoul on Oct. 28.

KT has declared that it will transform itself from a telecommunication company (telco) to a digital platform company (digico).

“We will shift our focus from the telecommunications sector, where growth is stalled due to government regulations, to artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and cloud computing businesses to become the nation's No. 1 platform operator in the B2B market," said KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo at his first official press conference at the Grand Intercontinental Parnas Hotel in Gangnam, Seoul, on Oct. 28.

At the event, Koo took the wraps off KT's B2B business brand "KT Enterprise."

"KT was once a telco where 100 percent of its sales come from the telecommunication business, but these days, 40 percent of its total sales are generated in non-communication areas," Koo said. "We will raise the proportion of the non-communication sector to 50 percent by 2025."

Koo stressed, "KT's digico is a communication-based platform company different from NAVER and Kakao."

In particular, Koo expressed strong confidence in making the grade in AI, big data, and cloud businesses. "KT is the only company that can access telecommunication, financial, and consumption data," Koo said.

He noted that KT Cloud's domestic market share is 20 percent, the third largest after global giants Amazon and Microsoft. “KT is the No. 1 cloud service provider among Korean companies,” he said. “We have invested two trillion won over the past 10 years to build the largest Internet data center in Korea and have accumulated business know-how in the cloud service business. We will increase our share of the Korean cloud service market to more than 30 percent in 2021."

KT's move to switch from a network operator to a platform operator overlaps that of its rival SK Telecom. Aspiring to become a "big-tech company," SK Telecom plans to increase the portion of non-communication businesses to 35 percent of its total sales in 2020 and expand new businesses such as mobility, security, media and e-commerce.

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