LG Uplus aims to export 'K-education' to global market

LG Uplus CEO Hwang Hyeon-sik announces the company's business strategies during a press conference at the Ambassador Seoul - A Pullman Hotel in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of LG Uplus

Telecom firm declares transition to platform business model

By Park Jae-hyuk

LG Uplus seeks to export “K-education” to the global market, based on the domestic popularity of its profitable child-oriented content service, the company said, Thursday.

The telecommunications firm also plans to establish an e-commerce platform that can recommend instructors and educational products suitable for each child.

“In order to increase contact points with our parent and child customers for better communication with them, we are preparing for a subscription-based platform which can grow into a 'Netflix for kids,'” LG Uplus CEO Hwang Hyeon-sik said during a press conference in Seoul.

The plan was mentioned as part of the company's medium- to long-term growth strategies.

LG Uplus emphasized once again that it will rely less on the conventional telecommunications business by pushing ahead with a platform business strategy.

Hwang, who promised in the previous year's press conference that his company would increase the proportion of revenue from non-telecommunication businesses to 30 percent by 2025, unveiled a new goal of increasing the proportion to 40 percent by 2027, and the company's enterprise value to 12 trillion won ($8.6 billion).

“Beyond the conventional telecommunication business, we will open the era of 'Uplus 3.0,' which discovers future growth engines through customer-oriented platforms and services, based on our data and technologies,” the CEO said. “An upgraded customer experience is possible, only if our customers spend more time using our services.”

In addition to the child-oriented service, LG Uplus aims to reinforce its platform services related to lifestyle and leisure. Hwang said his company will produce content on sports and K-pop idols.

He also talked about his company's efforts to keep pace with the next-generational technology trend, Web 3.0. In order to attract more customers to LG Uplus platforms, the company plans to provide its customers with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) related to K-pop idols and content, increasing its investments in R&D and startups to secure core technologies, such as metaverse technology.