By Kim Yoo-chul
It wasn’t long ago when KT CEO Lee Suk-chae was the toast of tech geeks here for his decision to bring in the Apple iPhone, which triggered off a smartphone boom and accelerated the Internet’s move toward mobile devices.
But now, fresh into his second term at the helm, Lee’s life as a corporate executive isn’t all peaches and cream.
KT, the country’s second-biggest wireless carrier and biggest broadband Internet provider, is lagging far behind rivals SK Telecom and LG Uplus in the race to grab customers for fourth-generation Long Term Evolution (LTE) services. Lee, rightfully, is taking most of the blame for the sluggish start.
The LTE gap between KT and its two rivals continues to widen. During the first three months of the year, KT lost around 12,000 customers to rival carriers, getting decimated in marketing battles as the company was last among the three carriers to provide nationwide LTE coverage.
LG Uplus, the smallest carrier, added more than 93,600 customers during the period, while SK Telecom, the industry leader, added more than 27,500, according to data from the Korea Communications Commission. KT’s 230,000 LTE customers are equivalent to just 20 percent of the customer pool LG Uplus has.
``We admit we got off to a bad start in LTE. We have to say we remain behind LG Uplus, which has been the most aggressive LTE player, and SK Telecom in both coverage and sophistication of services,’’ a KT executive said, declining to be named.
LG Uplus’ LTE network reaches 86 cities nationwide, and SK Telecom is claiming similar coverage.
KT’s coverage doesn’t come close and the possibility of the company meeting its promise of expanding its coverage to 84 cities seems highly unlikely. Its goal of getting 4 million LTE customers by the end of the year should probably be shelved as well.
KT is targeting annual revenue of 40 trillion won by 2015 by exploiting the mobile Internet explosion and creating ``synergies’’ with global partners. Well, it’s hard to be bullish about going global when the company continues to struggle at home.
``KT desperately needs to halt the bleeding in its main telecommunications business. Only after that can it think about integrating its business internationally,’’ said a European analyst.
LTE enables greater data speed and clearer voice quality than third generation (3G) services.
``The Korean mobile industry is increasingly influenced by LTE as consumers realize the difference in experience,’’ said a KCC official.