South Korean telecom operators are redoubling efforts to support teleconference and virtual education services as the prolonged pandemic limits in-person contact and encourages work-from-home practices.

Last week, major telecom operator KT Corp. said it will launch a new cloud-based video meeting platform, KT BizMeet, targeting businesses and education services.

KT said the platform can host large online seminars, supporting up to 5,000 users in a single online meeting.

The move follows the launch of its online coworking platform KT Works last year that provides a chat messenger and a work management system.

SK Telecom Co., the country's top wireless carrier, also launched video conference platform MeetUs last year, which is planned to be incorporated in remote education services at over 300 schools in the southwestern city of Gwangju this year.

The company said the service incorporates 5G and artificial intelligence technology to provide high quality videos.

Smaller rival LG Uplus Corp. also offers its own video conference platform, which can support up to 1,000 users in a single meeting.

The carrier's separate virtual education platform, which offers homeschool English classes and audio book services for young children, has especially benefited from the stay-at-home trend.

LG Uplus said the platform's users rose 30 percent on-year to 1.4 million in 2020. (Yonhap)