KT vows to wow G20 with technology display

By Kim Tong-hyung, Kim Yoo-chul

South Korea, a country fascinated with e-this and e-that, is always passionately touting its advancements in information technology (IT). And there could be no bigger exposure than that to be provided by the upcoming Group of 20 meetings in Seoul, where organizers vow to wow world leaders with ultra-fast communication, portable broadband, Web-connected mobile television and other futuristic technologies that have become rather humdrum for Koreans.

The provider of the technologies will be KT, the Korean telecommunications giant that is the chief IT handler for the Nov. 11 and 12 G20 Seoul Summit and the corresponding global conference of global business leaders.

KT, the country’s largest telephone and broadband Internet provider and the second-largest mobile-phone operator, has been providing life to the

country’s broadband and wireless party by offering a wealth of devices and services that exploit its “triple strength” in fixed-line, cellular and mobile Internet networks.

Suk Ho-ick, a former bureaucrat who joined KT as vice chairman in June last year, claims that the company’s technologies provided for the G20 audience will reflect how it envisions life with ubiquitous connectivity, where people are connected anywhere, anytime and with any device.

“The new opportunities in telecommunications and broadcasting enabled by the advancement in convergence is allowing us to complete our transition from a ‘wire-seller’ to a true information and communication technology (ICT) firm,” Suk said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.

“The services we develop and provide here are likely to be the models of services that are to be rolled out elsewhere, as we are the main technology provider for a country that takes pride in living closer to the future than others.”

The company will be operating the fixed-line, cellular and Internet services provided to G20 participants and thousands of international journalists, who will be able to access KT’s wireless Internet networks upon their arrival at Incheon International Airport as they move to the G20 venue at the COEX in southern Seoul.

KT will also offer mobile devices to G20 participants that are enabled with the wireless version of Internet protocol television (IPTV), allowing them to view international television channels such as CNN, Euro News, France 24, CCTV and NHK on the move.

It was barely two years ago when KT was seen as a gimpy dinosaur that survived on its aging telephone and Internet wires. However, the recent explosion of the portable Internet — triggered by smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile Internet devices — has jolted new life into the company that is finally finding the room to flex both its fixed-line and wireless muscles fully.

Aside of its traditional telephony and Internet networks, KT is also the country’s largest operator of Wi-Fi and WiBro, a wireless high-speed Internet technology that is the local variant of mobile WiMAX.

And KT is no longer just a telecommunication provider, but a deliverer of content and services. The company is putting in Herculean efforts to foster a developers’ network to pump up content for its mobile Internet customers, and the trend of convergence between broadcasting and the Internet has it generating revenue from the television business as an IPTV provider.

Suk expected KT’s next spurt of growth to come from “cloud computing,” describing a new era of Internet usage when most activities and data storage are provided online and accessed from personal computers and a wide range of portable devices.

KT is already at the center of the Korean government’s “smart work” initiative, which aims to create a networked work environment that enables people to take their work out of the cubicles.

The country aims to have around 30 percent of public employees work from home or nearby “smart-work” centers by 2015 with smartphones, laptops and other mobile Internet devices, which is hoped to boost productivity and minimize carbon emissions.

“Our fixed-line and wireless networks are operated at near perfection and we believe we are the world’s leading telecommunications operator in terms of delivering the ‘3Ws’ of networks in WCDMA, Wi-Fi and WiBro portable broadband,” Suk said. “This strength in networks will give us an undisputed advantage in progressing with cloud computing technologies and services.”