Korean mobile telecos expand into new business sectors

[Courtesy of SK telecom Co.]

South Korea’s top mobile carriers are actively nurturing new businesses to overcome stagnation in their core revenue streams, rapidly expanding their business scope beyond telecommunications to include digital healthcare and even drama production.

LG Uplus Corp. announced on Tuesday that it formed a partnership with SAMG Entertainment and HighZiumStudio to produce Korean-style robot content. The three companies plan to form a joint special purpose company to begin robot drama production. They will leverage each company’s strengths in business, production, investment, and distribution to divide the tasks.

LG Uplus will use its content-focused studio, STUDIO X+U, to participate in jointly planning and producing intellectual property. It will also take on a management role, overseeing the entire project including investment and distribution. For its part, SAMG Entertainment will provide IP business expertise based on successful global business models such as “Catch! Teenieping” and “Mini Special Forces while HighZiumStudio will share strategies from its successful productions of popular dramas such as “Itaewon Class” and “Money Heist.”

They will focus on robot dramas, which are characterized by the presence of robots as major characters akin to the “Transformers” film.

“Given the global popularity of robot IP, we are expected to create new added value by sharing respective IP expertise,” said an LG Uplus official. “We anticipate expanding into various business areas including theme parks and games using robot IP moving forward.”

The joint project between the three companies, tentatively titled, K-TRON, aims to premier globally on streaming services by 2026.

For its part, SK telecom Co. is strengthening digital healthcare services for pets. The company announced on Tuesday that it signed contracts to supply its AI-based pet diagnostic assistance solution X Caliber to three Southeast Asian countries: Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Partners include Malaysian pet medical equipment distributor Myvetcare, Thai veterinary clinic Happy Pet Thailand, and Vietnamese diagnostic equipment company Vet Sky Holdings.

SK telecom plans to expand the X Caliber business in Southeast Asia, conduct AI training for veterinarians, and elevate local pet diagnostic service standards. X Caliber, which began its expansion into North America’s largest pet market this year, is now entering Southeast Asia for commercialization.

“The Southeast Asian pet market was worth $3.3 billion in 2023, with an annual growth rate of 15 percent over the past five years,” an SK telecom official said. “We are also exploring new overseas business opportunities linked with telecommunications via X Caliber.”

KT Corp. also recently partnered with Microsoft Corp. to build autonomous AI models and cloud infrastructure. The duo plans to enhance security for data and AI sovereignty for public and financial sector clients by leveraging Microsoft technology and will reveal specific collaboration plans in September 2024.

To facilitate this, KT CEO Kim Young-shub has been visiting three European countries including Italy since Sunday for a week. Kim aims to review Microsoft’s local collaborations and refine the partnership strategy with Microsoft during this trip.