KT to work with China Mobile, NTT

KT Chairman Lee Suk-chae, right, holds hands with China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou, center, and NTT Docomo President and CEO Yamada Ryuuji, left, after signing an agreement for cooperation at China Mobile’s headquarters in Beijing, Tuesday. / Courtesy of KT

By Yoon Ja-young

KT, Korea’s telecommunication giant, is setting up a smart belt in Northeast Asia, lowering barriers for roaming services in the region. China Mobile and NTT Docomo, leading mobile operators from China and Japan, are joining KT in the project.

KT announced Wednesday that it signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with China Mobile and NTT Docomo, at the headquarters of China Mobile in Beijing, Tuesday. KT Chairman Lee Suk-chae, China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou, and Yamada Ryuuji, president and CEO of NTT Docomo, signed the agreement that expands strategic alliance between KT and China Mobile signed last November.

The three will be cooperating in roaming services, developing services for multinational companies, and engage in joint research. They will also be developing smartphones together.

The agreement is expected to lower barriers for roaming services. KT suggested that the three companies set a “Free Roaming Area,” where users can use voice and data roaming services at lower rates. It would enable users to enjoy fast and stable wireless Internet services anywhere in Korea, China and Japan, using Wi-Fi zones of KT, China Mobile and NTT Docomo that total 100,000.

KT is scheduled to launch an unlimited data roaming scheme between the three countries in March.

As the mobile content market is rapidly growing amid smartphone and tablet PC frenzy, the three mobile carriers opened One Asia Super Inter-Store, a joint application shop that links the open content market of each company. KT and its Japanese partner already completed an application sharing test last year. Hence, KT users can use language learning applications developed in Japan. NTT Docomo subscribers, meanwhile, can use Korea’s Secure On Mobile application to locate their lost phones.

“By integrating the content market, customers of the three countries, who have a lot in common in terms of lifestyle and culture, will be enjoying diverse content and applications,” a representative for KT said. “It would also help local applications and developers to advance into markets overseas,” she added.

“The agreement promises bigger benefits for customers and unlimited competitiveness for the operator,” KT Chairman Lee Suk-chae said. He added that it should be an example of successful cooperation project.

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