KT to invest W27 tril., hire 28,000 employees to boost growth

By Baek Byung-yeul

KT's headquarters in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul / Courtesy of KT

KT announced a massive investment plan on Thursday, saying it will invest 27 trillion won ($21.5 billion) and hire 28,000 employees by 2026 to accelerate the growth of its existing telecommunication business as well as new businesses such as digital healthcare and mobility.

“We will try to become a foundation for strengthening the competitiveness of the nation's core industries by actively investing in the future, fostering digital talent and creating jobs,” Ku Hyeon-mo, CEO of the company, said in a statement.

“We will suggest visions for new businesses in various industrial areas and develop the ecosystem to establish ourselves as a leader in digital transformation,” the CEO added.

The company's investment plan will be focused on a network infrastructure called Telco, a digital platform business called Digico and startups until 2026.

For the Telco business, it will invest 12 trillion won. It plans to increase the reliability of the network by establishing additional Disaster Recovery centers that were previously concentrated in Seoul. The company will also strengthen network stability by expanding bypass routes for high-speed internet, internet protocol TV and wireless services. To advance digital infrastructure, it will conduct research activities for sixth-generation (6G) network services, combined with the current 5G mobile network services.

Another 12 trillion won will be injected into new businesses such as artificial intelligence (AI), robots, cloud computing, media and content. Based on its experience in operating the country's largest call center, it will expand into the AI technology-based contact center business as well.

KT currently has 143,000 employees and plans to hire 28,000 new employees over the next five years to contribute to the country's job creation efforts.

Its job creation plan is focused on nurturing workers specialized in digital technology to accelerate the company's aim to become a digital platform company.

The company has conducted a future talent development project for employees and has nurtured about 1,000 workers in the AI, big data and cloud computing sectors through its reeducation programs.

KT also has been operating the AIVLE School program to help more young people become trained as digital experts. It said it will actively open up its know-how and infrastructure accumulated at the AIVLE School program to help the nation foster more digital experts.