SEOUL, KOREA - SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) announced today that joyn.T, its next-generation integrated communication service, became the first RCS service in the world to surpass 1 million subscribers on February 15.
SK Telecom reached the milestone in approximately 50 days after the launch of joyn.T on December 26, 2012. SK Telecom has received a congratulatory message from GSMA on the successful launch and take-off of joyn.T. GSMA also said that the case of SK Telecom’s joyn.T is expected to trigger numerous mobile carriers and manufacturers around the world to accelerate the commercialization of joyn services.
SK Telecom has been constantly upgrading the performance of joyn.T through system optimization, server expansion, and customer feedback. As of January 26, SK Telecom has further increased user convenience by deciding to offer unlimited, free-for-life joyn.T SMS/IMS services to its smartphone subscribers on flat-rate plans. In addition, data fees incurred from sending/receiving messages will not be deducted from subscribers’ data allowance.
Moreover, as joyn.T integrates SMS and IMS features for the first time in the world, joyn.T users can freely send messages to phones without joyn.T applications including feature phones. (The instant message sent to a non-joyn.T phone will appear in the recipient’s SMS inbox.)
SK Telecom plans to develop joyn.T into a comprehensive communication service that satisfies diverse communication needs of customers. The company will begin by linking joyn.T to HD Voice, its VoLTE service. As SK Telecom plans to embed HD Voice in all its LTE-capable smartphones to be released from March, more customers will be able to gain an enriched communication experience by enjoying high-speed video/file-sharing during a LTE voice call.
Furthermore, SK Telecom plans to open APIs of joyn.T to SMEs, who wish to develop and launch services such as games, SNS, and mobile commerce, to build an ICT ecosystem that brings mutual benefits.
Wi Eui-Seok, Executive Vice President and Head of Product Planning Office of SK Telecom said, “SK Telecom aims to integrate all means of mobile communication into joyn.T to make it the most attractive choice for customers seeking an accurate and enriched communication service.”
