SKT inks telco LLM agreement with SoftBank, 3 global telecom firms

SK Telecom signed a definitive agreement with SoftBank, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, Singapore’s Singtel and the United Arab Emirates’ e& to jointly commercialize a telco-tailored large language model.

SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang speaks at the TM Forum conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Tuesday. The event gathers major global network and communication providers to share new industry breakthroughs and discuss partnerhsips. [SK TELECOM]

SK Telecom, Korea’s largest wireless carrier, signed a definitive agreement to form a joint venture with Japan’s SoftBank, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, Singapore’s Singtel and the United Arab Emirates’ e& to jointly commercialize a telco-tailored large language model (LLM).

The agreement was signed by the executives of the five companies on Wednesday at TM Forum's Digital Transformation World conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, which gathers major global network and communication providers to share new industry breakthroughs and discuss partnerships.

The joint venture will focus on developing and commercializing LLMs tailored for telecommunications services and personalized AI assistant services.

Neither the scale of the investment or stake that SK Telecom has in the joint venture nor the location were disclosed.

The formation of the joint venture derives from the Global Telco AI Alliance forged by global telecom companies in November.

“It is significant to announce the detailed business plans and vision of the joint venture created by the Global Telco AI Alliance at the TM Forum event, where over 800 global telecom and tech companies from 11 countries have gathered,” SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang said during his speech at the TM Forum on Tuesday. “This announcement marks an important milestone for AI innovation and growth.

“The alliance’s common goal is to drive AI business innovation together and ultimately provide innovative experiences to users worldwide,” he continued. “We want telecom companies to collaborate on disruptive innovations beyond communications, such as AI data centers and AI personal assistants.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]