KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo stressed that the fifth-generation network would allow telecommunication firms to create new business opportunities across various industries, the company said Thursday.

“If the telecommunications firms used to center on business-to-consumer services in the past, the industry will be involved more in the business-to-business sector in the future,” KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo said in a keynote speech during the Global TD-LTE Initiative’s online summit on Wednesday.

GTI Summit is a partner program of Mobile World Congress organized by Global System for Mobile Association. The GTI Summit this year was held as an online event on Wednesday and Thursday in line with GSMA Thrive -- the association’s online substitute event for the MWC in Barcelona, Spain, which fell as a casualty in the global fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic in February.

During his keynote speech, the KT CEO said that a telecom network is not only a final product for individual customers but a tool that could enhance various kinds of infrastructure and increase productivity at various workplaces.

According to Koo, telecom firms now need to stretch out to other industries, while combining the new mobile network with big data, cloud and artificial intelligence technologies.

He introduced some of KT’s key initiatives that the mobile carrier has introduced to other industries, including its 5G-powered medical solution adopted by Samsung Medical Center.

Koo also mentioned that the ongoing pandemic has become a pivotal point, allowing new forms of businesses to thrive, like telecommuting, education technology and telemedicine solutions.

He added the recent digital transformation across different fields is not a temporary phenomenon but a trend that will last a long time.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)