SK Telecom is poised to invest some 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion) into integrating different facets of the information and communication technology industry to play its part in the government’s “creative economy” initiative.
“We hope to set out successful examples of mutual growth based on our sense of social obligation to help contribute to creating a creative economy based on ICT,” said Ha Sung-min, SKT chief executive.
It’s time now, he said, for the company to act not only in its own interest, but to benefit the industry as a whole.
The 1.2 trillion won will be allotted over the next three years for ICT integration in areas such as health care and smart solutions, based on high-quality networks and research and development.
Other beneficial programs, such as a center for supporting new start-ups, were also a part of the investment plans.
SK Telecom CEO Ha Sung-min speaks during a media briefing at the company’s headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday. (Bloomberg)
The move comes amid a delicate political setting: President Park Geun-hye has been upping the ante for companies to join in her drive for promoting a creative economy, a significant pillar of her government’s long-term national growth plan targeting the integration of science technology with the industrial sector, and breaking down walls between culture and corporations.
SK Telecom has much reason to try and uphold these strategies, as the Park administration holds the key to keeping SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won behind bars for embezzlement.
SK Group is SKT’s parent company.
Chey’s incarceration this year marked Park’s determination to follow through with her pledge for achieving economic democratization, another pillar of the new government’s economic policies, if by bashing the conglomerates.
With this initiative, the government has been successful in urging conglomerates and other large companies to step up investment and help turn the economy around, but in ways that differ from the past when the pressure was outright.
Instead, by using individuals such as Chey as an example, Park has shown what the government ― or the prosecution and public sentiment ― can do to keep firms in line.
SKT is not the only company succumbing to such calls. Hyundai Motor also recently said it would invest 1.1 trillion in facility investment in Korea ― a rarity for a firm that’s now moving rapidly to become global ― to create new jobs.
The fact that the mobile carrier did not definitely outline the projects included in the 1.2 trillion won plan was evidence that the company was more eager to show the government its willingness to cooperate, industry sources said.
“SKT needed to show it was game, so finances were its main priority. The actual blueprint can come later,” one source said.
Ha on Wednesday stressed that SKT would play a bigger role to help create an ICT eco system where imagination and ideas could have free rein. “This way, we will seek new business opportunities.”
He stressed that above all, SKT would be focused on enhancing customer value.
SK Telecom’s latest two-track business initiative for pursuing customer value and industry integration is one of the goals it set out earlier this year to achieve 100 trillion won in corporate value by 2020 to become one of the world’s 100th largest companies.
“It’s time we turned from great to beloved,” Ha said, explaining it was now not a choice but the road companies were obligated to take.
By Kim Ji-hyun (
jemmie@heraldcorp.com)