LG Uplus vies to buy cable TV operator

By Kim Tae-gyu

LG Uplus, the country’s smallest mobile carrier, is striving to snap up a cable TV operator to achieve "economies of scale,” Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo told a press conference Friday.

“When the relevant regulations are streamlined, we will consult with authorities to forge ahead with the idea of acquiring a cable TV operator,” said Kwon who took the realm of LG Uplus last November.

His remarks garnered attention because LG Uplus’ bigger competitor SK Telecom failed to purchase CJ HelloVision, a business bellwether in the pay TV market, in the face of opposition from the anti-trust watchdog.

Kwon did not specify candidate companies but observers say LG Uplus would want to buy one of the top four brands ― CJ HelloVision, D’Live, Hyundai HCN and T-Broad.

The Cable TV industry once savored a heyday in the 2000s but has struggled to find its feet of late with the advent of Internet-enabled TV. From the perspective of LG Uplus, however, their big customer base would be attractive according to observers.

Kwon noted SK Telecom failed to take over CJ HelloVision because “the company did not follow the right procedures.”

In addition, Kwon said that it would expand the business horizon of LG Uplus to such areas as the Internet of things (IoT) and business-to-business segments.

“We do not regard overseas telecom companies as our competitors. Rather we will be able to carry out global businesses under partnership with telecom firms in China, Japan and the United States,” he said.

“We also plan to find our next-generation growth engines through investing in venture start-ups in countries like Israel and the U.S. We recently decided to invest in two firms with expertise in artificial intelligence.”

The LG lifer expressed his goal of making LG Uplus a market leader ahead of its larger rivals of SK Telecom and KT.

“The telecom market is complicated and difficult but it has great potential. Along with our employees, we will become a leader by nurturing the willingness to be the top player,” said the CEO who joined the LG Group in 1979.

Kwon took the reins of LG Display in 2007 to enable the struggling company to make a major rebound. He moved to head of LG Chem. in 2012 where he led the firm’s jump in the battery business for electric cars.

The Seoul National University graduate has iterated that he would incorporate “first-grade DNA” into the blood of LG Uplus employees so that the firm will really become a top player.