Deutsche Telekom Shows
Keen Concern over KT's 'U-City'
- KT President and his Deutsche Telekom counterpart discuss ways of
collaboration in IT sector
KT President Lee Yong-Kyung met with Deutsche Teleckom Chairman Kai-Uwe Ricke in Germany on Apr. 13 and discussed matters of mutual concern, including their collaboration projects, industrial sources familiar to the talks said.
During their meeting, Deutsche Teleckom Chairman Ricke expressed a keen interest in "Ubiquitous-City" (U-City) and Wibro projects KT has aggressively implemented as next-generation growth engine industrial sectors. The meeting of the CEOs of the Korean and German telecom companies after he delivered a speech about collaboration of the IT sector between Korea and Germany during the Korean-German Business Forum held on Apr. 12 while he was visiting Germany as a member of the delegation, which accompanied President Roh Moo-hyun, who made a state visit to Germany and Turkey on the last of a series of summit talks to the European Union. KT President Lee explained to Ricke plans to construct new cities and build up U-City infrastructure. The two also exchanged views on matters of mutual concern, including Korea's broadband market and mobile communication businesses and future business strategies.
KT President Lee showed a keen concern about Deutsche Teleckom's success story in its overseas business division, which accounts for 40 percent of its total sales, while the Deutsche Teleckom chairman asked many questions about KT's successful entry into the foreign markets. The two exchanged in-depth discussions over their common efforts to enter the markets to East Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.
The two exchange views on KT's future strategy named "Future Strategy 2010" and Deutsche Teleckom's "Excellence Program." They also discussed exchanges among the top managers of the two companies as well as ways of exchanging technologies in diverse areas, including broadband convergence network (BcN), convergence services, VoIP and IP-TV.
KT President Lee elaborated on the need for revamping the IP (Information Provider) access system and asked for Deutsche Teleckom's participating in an international forum on IP access which KT will organize in Korea coming October, while the Deutsche Teleckom chairman requested cooperation on TV broadcasting services during the 2006 World Cup slated for 2006 in Germany.
Industrial experts say that industry focus is on whether Korea's largest fixed line and broadband service provider, KT's business collaboration with Deutsche Teleckom, the world's third largest telecom operator, could serve as a boon for KT, which is out to gain future growth momentum.
Lee's speech about collaboration of the IT sector between Korea and Germany during the Korean-German Business Forum held on Apr. 12 covered such topics as KT's existing services and new model projects, including bizmeka, a IT solution leasing service, Wibro, KT's mobile Internet service on the move, and U-City.
"U-City," short for Ubiquitous City, refers to building industry-wide combination of between the high-tech and construction sectors to integrate advanced info-tech infrastructure to support the sustainable development of cities. The project is designed to create environments in cities where residents can enjoy access to high-speed networks and enhanced information services at anytime regardless of location through a ubiquitous computing network.
The government figures the U-City project will enhance Korea's status as an international technology country and establish itself as regional cluster and test bed for world-class firms here and abroad. The project is also seen as critical to providing the infrastructure and generating a larger service market for next-generation communication technologies, such as sensor-based computing, radio-frequency identification applications and mobile Internet.
KT is now implementing three U-City projects related to Songdo New City in Incheon, Yongin and Busan, the southernmost port city.
KT was selected as a partner in the construction of "Busan U-City" because it has the capabilities to provide total solutions including communication infrastructure and system integration, and was deemed capable of carrying out a long-term project requiring a large investment. So far the City of Busan has been planning to build the "Busan U-City" as a turning point in the battle against its economic competitors such as China and Singapore. The city plans to launch the "U-City Promotion Planning Division" consisted of six promotion teams including U-Port, U-Traffic, and U-Convention. nw
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