New Telecoms Giant Celebrates its Birth in Bundang
New Telecoms Giant Celebrates its Birth in Bundang
  • Chung Myung-je
  • 승인 2009.06.05 18:19
  • 댓글 0
이 기사를 공유합니다

“Two heads are better than one” is an axiom that can also apply to business circles. This time, the story is about the telecommunications industry. As if to prove its meaning, two Korean telecommunications firms have been merged into a new telecommunications giant. Literally, two heads are now determined to prove that they will be better than one when they used to function separately.

 

Two KTs Merged

KT, or Korea Telecom (www.kt.com), a new telecommunications giant, was launched in Korea on June 1 with the goal to beat steep nationwide and worldwide competition in the market. It is a kind of long-awaited merger of two telecommunications service providers – KT and its mobile subsidiary KTF, or Korea Telecom Freetel. As a result of the merger, the new KT emerged as a new telecommunications giant which will provide wired and wireless telephony, super-speed Internet, WiBro and IPTV services.  The new entity has a  combined annual sales of W18.9 trillion (US$15.3 billion), assets of W24.1 trillion (US$19.5 billion), and about 38,000 staff.

 

Conspicuous Records

The old KT was already a telecommunications giant itself. After it was founded in 1981, the old KT was put into civilian hands in 2002. It has since grown into a telecommunications conglomerate which provides domestic and international telephony and super-fast Internet services.

KTF, Korea's second largest mobile operator founded in 1997 and a subsidiary of the old KT, was also one of the leading mobile service providers with more than 10 million subscribers. KTF used to offer a broad range of wireless services including mobile Internet, m-commerce, wireless multimedia, wired and wireless portals and telematics.

Given the old KT’s admirable record as the leading developer of telecommunications technologies and a telephony and mobile service provider, it seems certain that the telecommunications giant will enhance the overall competitiveness of the country’s telecommunications industry.

Developer of State-of-the-Art Services and Devices

To be more specific, it became the 10th developer of the TDX-1 electronic switching system in the world in 1984 and contributed significantly to automating the country’s telephone system nationwide in 1987 based on the TDX-1. The old KT also laid the foundation for the opening of the information age by increasing the number of nationwide telephone lines from a mere 4.5 million in 1982 to some 20 million in 1993.

To Korea’s credit, KT launched the Mugunghwa-1 satellite in 1995, the Mugunghwa-2 in 1996, and the Mugunghwa-3 in 1999. As a global enterprise, KT has also expanded its business model, including wireless and mobile combined services and e-portals.

New Telecommunications Giant Is Born

Officials cheer for the merger of KT and KTF in Bundang on June 1

Under these circumstances, the new telecommunications giant slouched celebrated its birth in Bundang at a ceremony held on June 1. At the ceremony Lee Suk-chae, chairman of the new KT, pledged to turn the new telecommunications conglomerate into a global ITC leader based on technological convergence. The new KT has set a goal to achieve a combined annual sales of W27 trillion (US$21.8 billion) within three years.

The launch of the new telecommunications giant has heralded a big bang in the telecommunications market, as it was a sign showing that a new order is being established in the industry. It also signifies the birth of Korea’s first convergence enterprise, handling both wireless and mobile communications services. Just as KT Chairman Lee said, the merger was an important step for the conglomerate to grow and expand overseas.

The new KT is therefore determined to take the lead in the country’s efforts in the telecommunications industry as a whole. The telecommunications conglomerate will also look for new markets, with a focus on emerging economies in central Asia and Africa.

KT is ready to build a hub using WCDMA, WiBro, and WiFi to provide individual customers with services concerning information, communication, entertainment, and trade. For corporate customers, the conglomerate said it will develop IT services and solutions suitable for each demand and expand into infrastructure management outsourcing and managed application outsourcing services.

The combined KT is expected to produce a variety of eye-catching convergence products based on sufficient wired and wireless networking convergence services. Besides, the conglomerate will likely lead the movement to create a wireless and mobile convergence market, including mVoIP and mIPTV services.

Tasks Ahead

Aside from the generally upbeat atmosphere created by the merger, the new combined KT is tasked to establish a robust market structure and create a new environment for fair competition. Simply put, the new KT is required to establish a new market order to introduce a virtuous cycle of the emerging IT ecosystem. This shows how eagerly the information and communications market wants the telecommunications giant to lead in fair competition and create a new customer-centered service value.

Given its influence and networking assets, many players in the market are asking KT to play a central role in the information and communications industry as the leader in the IT ecosystem, while embracing small and medium-sized telecommunications and mobile service providers in a mutually beneficial way. To achieve customer value innovations, KT should make sure that it provides its customers with high-quality convergence services.


댓글삭제
삭제한 댓글은 다시 복구할 수 없습니다.
그래도 삭제하시겠습니까?
댓글 0
댓글쓰기
계정을 선택하시면 로그인·계정인증을 통해
댓글을 남기실 수 있습니다.

  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT US
  • SIGN UP MEMBERSHIP
  • RSS
  • 2-D 678, National Assembly-daero, 36-gil, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Korea (Postal code: 07257)
  • URL: www.koreaittimes.com | Editorial Div: 82-2-578- 0434 / 82-10-2442-9446 | North America Dept: 070-7008-0005 | Email: info@koreaittimes.com
  • Publisher and Editor in Chief: Monica Younsoo Chung | Chief Editorial Writer: Hyoung Joong Kim | Editor: Yeon Jin Jung
  • Juvenile Protection Manager: Choul Woong Yeon
  • Masthead: Korea IT Times. Copyright(C) Korea IT Times, All rights reserved.
ND소프트