KT going all-out against Amazon Web Services, Microsoft

Shin Soo-jung, executive vice president and head of IT planning office at KT, speaks during a press conference at the company's headquarters in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of KT

By Baek Byung-yeul

KT is going all-out to compete with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and other cloud computing service providers as it plans to invest 500 billion won ($422 million) and nurture 1,000 IT technicians by 2023, the company said Tuesday.

To get a larger share of the fast-growing cloud computing market here, which is expected to be worth 7 trillion won in 2023, KT said it will seek to compete in the public and financial sectors.

The company, which has already secured the highest number of public organizations as customers for its cloud computing services, expects to get more customers from the financial sector as in January the government eased regulations that prevented the adoption of cloud computing technology.

"When we started the cloud computing business in 2010, the outlook for the domestic market was uncertain. But things have changed a lot as a growing number of companies are trying to adopt cloud computing," said Shin Soo-jung, KT's executive vice president and head of IT planning, during a press conference at the company's headquarters in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul.

"While global cloud operators such as AWS have shown their dominance here, KT has been a leading cloud operator in the public market, securing more than 130 public agencies as our customers," Shin said. "As a first step to become a leader in the domestic cloud market, we will try to secure more customers in the public and financial sectors. As organizations in these sectors are sensitive to security issues they feel under pressure to use foreign cloud computing services."

KT added it plans to launch a new cloud service that is combined with an integrated security management system in July.

In the financial sector, KEB Hana Bank has been using KT's cloud service since April.

Utilizing its fifth-generation (5G) network service, it also plans to roll out other cloud services for smart cities, smart factories, connected vehicles and enterprise clients. "By strengthening our cloud service, we plan to post 1 trillion won in sales in cloud computing in 2023," a KT official said.

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