LG Uplus unveils 'cloud navigation' service

Models demonstrate LG Uplus’ new cloud-based navigation service called U+ Navi LTE at The Plaza Hotel in downtown Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap

By Cho Mu-hyun

LG Uplus, the nation’s smallest mobile carrier, unveiled new cloud-based services with Hyundai and Shinsegae Thursday, as competition among telecoms in long-term evolution (LTE) move from luring subscribers to providing new content.

The carrier unveiled five new services utilizing the cloud, which allows for storing massive data online, at a press conference at The Plaza Hotel in downtown Seoul.

A navigation service called U+ Navi LTE, to be offered in partnership with Hyundai Mnsoft, has voice recognition and 3D mapping that can “zoom in and out instantly, seamlessly.”

LG Uplus officials blasted SK Telecom’s rival T-map as an inferior service that is “clunky in its direction and inaccurate in its location placing.”

Making money from navigation services is difficult due to intense competition, as almost any firm dabbling or focusing on IT, such as NHN and SK Telecom, provides such apps. Therefore, LG Uplus will likely face difficulty clinching a large market share.

U+ Shopping, a new shopping app in partnership with Shinsegae’s E-mart that provides information for consumers to find the most reasonable price was also unveiled. It includes every product available in E-mart’s roster.

A new media app, U+ HDTV, allows replay of videos of major broadcasters KBS and SBS

An upgrade for the cloud gaming service C-games was also revealed, with download speed increased and a new joystick with Bluetooth. The service is planned to launch in the second half of the year.

It currently has 38 titles, which will be doubled by the end of the year, officials said. Serious and educational games will also be added.

U+ HD Music, with 2.2 million tracks available for download, was also unveiled.

All three domestic telecoms, KT, SK Telecom and LG Uplus, have increased investment in cloud services this year as part of plans to strengthen content and create new growth engines to offset falling revenue from voice calls and texts.

Cloud services also allow carriers to provide higher memory-consuming content _ such as HD videos and 3D games _ which require subscribers to use more data and allow carriers to increase revenue by charging more.

Last year, the three carriers’ marketing war to lure subscribers reached a peak, leading to a subscription ban from the Korea Communications Commission, the nation’s regulator. However, subscription rates have steeply declined this year. SK Telecom has 10 million subscribers while KT and LG Uplus have 5 million each.