KT joins hands with AT&T, Vodafone

Seeking global business opportunities with AT&T

By Kim Yoo-chul

KT, the country’s second-biggest mobile carrier, aims to defy a decades-long image as just a local player by showing off its cutting-edge technology at the world’s biggest telecommunications fair.

And KT has a pair of powerful allies, as having joined up with AT&T of the United States and Vodafone of the United Kingdom to run the Connected House at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) this week.

KT, headed by CEO Lee Suk-chae, said Sunday it plans to provide free Wi-Fi and the Connected House will act as a place where major telecom firms come together, offering a taste of futuristic telecommunications services that include those for machine-to-machine (M2M).

``With M2M, various NFC technologies for commercial and general use will be exhibited,’’ said KT spokesman Lee In-won.

KT did not reiterate its high-profile cooperation but said that the maneuver is about boosting its bottom line on a global level. Lee said: ``The Connected House reflects our sincere pitches to appeal to outside customers. KT aims to earn 4 trillion won from overseas by 2015.’’

Some observers see possibilities that KT’s near-field communication (NFC) technology will be available to AT&T and Vodafone.

In consideration of the significance of this, KT said its CEO’s right-hand man Pyo Hyun-myung will attend MWC for several closed business meetings with existing and potential customers.

Pyo is a board member of GSMA, the trade group that organized the fair, and helped KT introduce Apple’s iPhone to Korea in November 2009.

``We don’t know whether major partnership announcements will come. But he will discuss how to boost KT’s global tie-ups,’’ Lee said without elaborating further.

KT has also demonstrated its technological edginess with an upgraded robot for educational purposes, Kibot2, and the ``Spider Phone,’’ an Android-powered hybrid that can turn into a laptop, tablet or even a PSP-like handheld gaming device. They will be displayed at KT’s booth.

Held yearly in Barcelona since 2006, MWC is the premier annual mobile event and this year’s fair is expected to attract more than 60,000 people, according to the organizers.

Global opportunities

``Korean telecom companies are being pressured to diversify their revenue streams. KT will embrace MWC as an opportunity to secure more business chances outside the Korean Peninsula,’’ Lee said.

In Korea, KT is fiercely competing with its biggest local rival SK Telecom. Yet, the former is lagging behind the latter when it comes to global appetites.

``Things are changing. The company has recently rearranged its business structure with more focus on global businesses. It’s quite difficult to immediately penetrate the international markets, though,’’ Lee said.

In a rare case, KT appeared at the IFA technology fair in Berlin, Germany, last year although the event’s highlights are devices, not so much telecom technology.

Ahn Tae-hyo, who is leading KT’s smart-eco business division, will unveil strategies to cut down on data traffic amid the explosive demand for data-intensive devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Yang Hyun-mi, another KT executive, is separately set to talk about KT’s next-generation mobile communication services dubbed as Rich Communication Suite and others based on NFC technology.

This year’s MWC promises to offer the world’s fastest, sleekest and the most-powerful mobile devices.

LG Electronics, HTC, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson and Nokia will release their own Long-Term Evolution smartphones, while Microsoft will unveil the Windows 8 operating system targeting desktops and notebooks.

With Hynix Semiconductor and SK Planet, SK Telecom is going to display its network solutions.

LG Uplus CEO Lee Sang-chul will also attend the show to check out future trends in wireless technologies, according to the firm. LG Uplus is Korea’s smallest mobile carrier.