Ha Min-yong (right), chief development officer of SK Telecom, poses for a photo with Anna Yip (on screen), Singtel’s chief executive officer of consumer, after a signing ceremony held by video conference on Monday. (SK Telecom)

South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom said Tuesday it forged a partnership with Singapore’s largest mobile carrier Singtel to expand its metaverse service into the Asia-Pacific region.

Singtel operates in 21 countries to provide mobile communication and high-speed internet services to about 770 million users around the world.

Under their partnership, the two sides agreed to work together on initiating a metaverse project in Singapore and extend the project in the Asia-Pacific region overall.

Their first collaboration work will be localizing SK Telecom's metaverse platform ifland to meet user interests in Singapore such as metaverse spaces and avatars themed exclusively on Singapore.

Adding to the big push on metaverse services, the two companies also agreed to seek cooperation on other areas of business, including quantum cryptography.

“The partnership with SKT will lead to innovation in the metaverse sector and will help Singtel to show its potential in its distinguished 5G technology that provides new experience in digital service,” said Singtel’s Chief Executive Officer of Consumer Anna Yip, .

“From cooperating with Singtel, SKT is able to introduce its metaverse business into the Asia-Pacific region,” SK Telecom's Chief Development Officer Ha Min-yong, said, adding the company is determined to make its metaverse business global.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)