KT, South Korea‘s leading telecommunications firm, announced its corporate vision Wednesday to strengthen its non-telecommunications businesses. The company also introduced a new corporate brand KT Enterprise as part of its efforts to increase investment in services powered by artificial intelligence, big data and cloud technology.

KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo stressed that the company will increase its investment in up-and-coming platform sectors to secure future growth during a press conference held Wednesday at Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas.

According to Ku, the growth rate of the company’s telecommunication businesses has been stagnant for the past few years. However, revenue from businesses related to AI, big data and cloud technology have increased significantly.

Ku expected the company‘s revenue from non-telecommunications businesses in 2025 will account for around 50 percent of the company‘s total revenue, which is expected to reach 20 trillion won.

The sales from business-to-business units are also growing as many local firms are pushing to accelerate digital transformation, the CEO added. Currently, the revenue from B2B business accounts for around 35 percent of the company‘s total.

Ku introduced new corporate brand KT Enterprise, KT’s business unit that will be in charge of developing solutions, powered by AI, big data and cloud technology.

Digital healthcare service is one of the services that this new brand is preparing to launch. Ku said the company has newly made a department dedicated to develop digital healthcare solutions. KT plans to eventually create a telemedicine solution in the future.

Other sectors that KT aims to increase its footing in include, the remote working software market, the assistive robotics market and the chatbot market.

While launching new solutions powered by the latest IT technologies, KT will continue to increase its capabilities in new technologies as well, Ku said.

To strengthen cloud capability KT will soon forge a local alliance. The company will also introduce a large-scale internet data center in Yongsan, central Seoul, next month.

KT is currently the largest local cloud service provider. The sales of its cloud service unit were the third largest with 350 billion won, following those of Amazon and Microsoft, according to the company.

Ku added the company will utilize its AI technology and the vast amount of customer data collected via its businesses, including its telecommunications business, payment processing firm BC Card and others. KT has around 180 million customers and 50,000 client companies to date.

Meanwhile, Ku said the company will, from next year, start investing in content production to give a competitive edge to its pay TV service, which will have the largest number of users -- around 12.56 million -- after finishing its deal to acquire Hyundai HCN.

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