KT pledges to move beyond telecom to platform business

KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu has called for South Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier to move beyond its flagship telecom business and become a platform company based on intelligent network technologies.

“KT’s goal should not be to become Korea’s No. 1 telecom company but to become a platform company with intelligent network technologies,” Hwang said during his New Year’s speech.

“We should not aim to become the No. 1 leader in the IPTV market, but become a strong media platform company that can create a new paradigm in how people consume media,” he said.

KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu (KT)

Hwang also urged KT employees to devise new, upgraded strategies to shake up the current state of the local telecom market.

“We must pursue technology-based differentiation and make efforts to break the existing market order. It’s a change we need to pursue to become first-movers in the global race for next-generation 5G networks and ultrafast internet,” he said.

The KT chairman’s term is scheduled to end in March. Hwang, who took up his post as chief of KT in January 2014, has yet to announce whether he will be serving another term.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)