KT Pursues Full-Blown Growth

Telecom co. has built up basis for growth for the past 5 years

KT President and CEO Nam Joong-soo has called for his executives and staff members to pursue full-blown growth. In his New Year's message, Nam said, "KT will make all-out efforts to make 2008 a year of challenging and growing up. We have to pursue full-blown growth and find our way."Nam set three management goals: the materialization of a full-blown growth plan; creativity translated into action and the pursuit of social responsibility.
He noted that if even creative ideas appear insupportable by actions, it might be a false image, and challenge and creativity translated into action should be at the core of KT's corporate culture.
Industry experts say that attention focuses on whether KT, entering 2008, the first year of the third-term of management since its privatization, will find a full-blown growth path.
The KT CEO has declared that his company has stuck to a long-lasting and principal management strategy to firm up its base with giving lesser weight to performances for the past five years, and now KT will enter a stage of full-blown growth this year 'like bamboo shoots that spring up after five years.'At the climax of the five-year-plan period to build up its foundation, KT has implemented customer-oriented management, service innovation and the launch of new core future projects. KT's aggressive approach in the new business sector during 2007 was part of its efforts to fortify a foundation for a leap forward into full-blown growth.
KT chalked up 11.94 trillion won in 2007, a mere 0.7 percent growth over 2006, and saw operating profit decline 20.2 percent to 1.40 trillion won due to its excessive focus on improving its constitution. It also saw its net profit plunge 21.6 percent to 967.5 billion won.
KT's efforts to improve its base have paid off. The accumulated number of Mega TV subscribers has surpassed the 300,000 mark, while that of WiBro subscribers has exceeded the 100,000 barrier.
KT has added "Internet telephone (VoIP) to to a list of the existing projects - "Mega TV,"designed to offer video-on-demand program services at any place and at any time and WiBro mobile Internet services- KT will implement this year to put it on a growth path. KT will pour a whopping 1.6 trillion won into building up the infrastructure for the top three projects. KT aims to secure 1.5 million Mega TV subscribers, 400,000 WiBro members and 1 million Internet telephone subscribers.
It is noteworthy for KT to launch the Internet telephone business, as the company is due to release substitute services to its core fixed line services, whose revenues dropped due to falling income of intra-city and inter-city telephone services. It means that KT will provide the value customers want, even though the fixed telephone service and Internet telephone businesses provide overlapping features. It may also be construed as KT's determination to follow the direction of the telecommunication services industry toward advancement and integration. nw

KT CEO Nam Joong-soo