KT on the Move

Envisions sales of 40 tln won for KT Group by 2015 through intensive inroads abroad

Korea Telecom (KT) posted 20.23 trillion won in annual sales in 2010, the largest in its history, up 6.7 percent over 2009, with operating profit reaching 2.53 trillion won, up 117 percent, the communications company said recently.
The record sales were attributed to rises in sales in the wireless sector, including smart-phone operations, beating the estimate of 19.5 trillion won. Net income amounted to 1.17 trillion won, up 93 percent YoY.
KT’s astounding annual sales were owed to good performances in all of its sectors except landline communication. Sales in the wireless sector were up 15 percent YoY and sectors such as internet, data and real estate also saw gains, the company said.
The number of smart phone subscribers as of the end of 2010 totaled 2.73 million with a 17 percent distribution rate and KT plans to distribute its terminal lineup with smart phones with diversified operation systems at home and abroad by more than 70 percent this year, raising the number of its subscribers to 6.5 million by the end of the year. The total number of KT’s wireless subscribers including smart phones surpassed 16 million across the country at the end of last year, boosting the market share of internet phone subscribers to 31.6 percent, up 0.3 percentage points over 2009.
In the meantime, the annual sales of telephones amounted to 4.38 trillion won in 2010, down by 464.1 billion won due to the reduction in the number of subscribers and online conversations, while internet telephone sales totaled 380.2 billion won on the strength of increased subscriber numbers, up 45.7 percent YoY.
KT declared that it will make 2011 the starting year of its Zero-Defect Service program based on reform of its customer service, at a press conference held at the Press Center in Taepyeongno, Seoul, on Jan. 20. KT also plans to attain 30 trillion won in KT sales and 40 trillion won in group sales by 2015 through the expansion of Cloud Computing-based IT services while converting customer homes into Smart Homes.
KT has adopted the policies outlined below to achieve such objectives in 2011:
- Transformation into a customer-trusted business through enterprise-wide customer service reform
KT plans to reform all of its processes from the customers’ perspective while providing customer service that customers can easily access by making customer satisfaction its top priority in order to transform itself into a business that is trusted and loved by its customers.
To that end, KT will introduce a zero-defect product/service launch process according to a new concept involving customer participation in order to eliminate room for customer dissatisfaction with its product/service launch process. The zero-defect product/service launch process will only allow the release of a new product or service when the customers determine that it has no defects. The product/service development department will have to prove the absence of defects or other problems by reflecting the suggestions of an assessment group consisting of customers, sales or counseling representatives or agency staff.
If a customer raises an issue even after the launch of a product or service at customer access points such as the customer center, service start or after-sales service representatives will issue a “red alert,” a newly introduced quality warning system. In such cases, new subscriptions will be halted immediately and resumed only upon resolution of the problem. At present, new subscriptions are suspended only when sales are terminated based on the service agreement terms.
KT will extend the ‘participating forum’ shared with the customers to a great extent. It will promote a program that reflects lively customers’ voices in the improvement of its products and services. It will also introduce an innovative VOC Reward System in the first half of the year, which will reward customers whose suggestions contribute to the improvement of a product or service.
In order to effectively promote the enterprise-wide customer service reform, KT founded the Service Innovation Unit, which consists of the CS Promotion Division and the Integrated Customer Strategy Division, late last year.
In addition, KT plans to concentrate all its network resources on the launch of a top- quality call service. It plans to switch to the Cloud Communication Center (CCC), which will be able to secure a wireless service capacity 50 percent greater than that of the existing system. To efficiently distribute data traffic, it plans to increase its Olleh WiFi Zones to 100,000 by the end of the current year and to deploy WiBro coverage in 82 cities across the country by the end of February.
‘SMART HOME’ - KT plans to promote ‘Smart Homes’ that enable customer homes to be used for learning, rest and work, utilizing its advantage with the 3W Network. KT will launch a pad that is suitable for customer groups composed of housewives or students, thereby enabling them to realize a secondary office environment using diverse virtual pad services. KT also plans to turn homes into spaces for smart learning, rest and work by applying e-textbook, customized education packages, book caf?and family album functions to the pad.
Meanwhile, KT will steadily promote the N-Screen Service to allow customers to access IPTV while moving around in the home by introducing the Portable Olleh TV Service, which combines network and smart devices. For example, customers will be able to enjoy IPTV channels or the VoD service anywhere inside their home using the applications on their iPhone or iPad.
To firmly maintain its leadership of the mobile data service market, KT plans to increase its mobile service subscribers to 40 percent with some 6.5 million new smart phone subscribers, an approximately twofold increase, by launching a lineup of 25 to 30 different smart phones per year. KT also plans to sell over 1 million smart pads within the year by launching seven or eight different models a year.
- Transforming into Cloud Computing based open IT service business
KT will further open its Olleh Market and Open IPTV to enable contents suppliers and application developers to realize their ideas using IT services more conveniently and inexpensively. It plans to transform itself into a Cloud Computing-based IT service business by launching PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service) within the first half of the year, in addition to the IaaS (Infra as a Service) currently in operation.
In addition to the various open service platforms KT has been promoting since last year, it plans to provide a digital distribution or sales environment where the billing, settlement and marketing processes are handled on a contents sales platform that enables developers to display their data on diverse KT screens while enhancing its service platforms. In particular, KT plans to lead the business customer service market by properly adapting to the smart service market environment while deploying diverse service platforms using Cloud Computing and providing business-oriented solutions.
In fact, KT is set to open Office as a Service System (OAASYS), a Cloud Computing-based software marketplace for small and medium-sized businesses this April. A KT consortium composed of KT and such specialized small businesses as Knowledge Cube, Forbiz and Clinity, having won this project from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy last July, now plans to enable a one-stop service consisting of diverse SaaS and other combined services, including e-mail, e-payment, accounting solutions and other groupware, office programs, CRM solutions, payment solutions and an information security service.
Once OAASYS has been launched, small and medium-sized software developers with inferior brand perception and marketing capabilities will be able to lead their business in a stable manner based on the Cloud Computing Service infrastructure and platform. In addition, small or medium-sized businesses with vulnerable financing or IT infrastructure conditions will be able to deploy or utilize efficient information service systems at a lower cost.
- Accelerating overseas market advancement through investment in emerging markets in Latin America, CIS and Africa, and alliances with global businesses
KT is increasing its investment in such emerging markets as Latin America, the CIS and Africa, all of which have great growth potential, while accelerating its advance into foreign markets through M&As or alliances with global partners. It plans to extend its success cases of domestic convergence solutions such as Cloud Computing, U-City platform, mobile office and digital signage into the global market
To enhance customer value in the global age, KT also provides diverse convenience services, including special rates and speedy handling of the subscription process for multinational business customers in Korea, China and Japan, while removing the communication service rate barrier by deploying a Free Roaming Area (FRA) in Northeast Asia using the smart belt currently under construction by the three countries.
To that end, KT concluded an MOU with China Mobile and NTT DOCOMO under which 10 WiFi zones are being provided to the three countries for convenient use by customers. The WiFi zones in the three countries will be greatly increased to further enhance customer convenience by the end of this year.
In addition, KT will provide opportunities for the developers to advance into the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) through the Asia App Store, where the three countries will be able to share mobile applications.
- Providing a workplace full of opportunities where all internal customers will be satisfied and any can grow
KT has a policy of realizing a ‘Great Workplace’ to provide an environment full of opportunities where any internal customer will be satisfied and can grow with open opportunities for participation and fair compensation.
In addition, KT plans to listen more attentively to both employees (Voice of Employees ― VOE) and customers (Voice of Customers ― VOC) alike in order to create a great work environment in which young talents will want to work.
“I think KT has played a significant role in the process of providing a stage and forum of opportunity where anyone with ideas and passion can serve, as the paradigm of the IT industry has changed completely over the past two years,” said Chairman Lee Suk-chae when discussing the company’s recent achievements. “KT will further enhance its customer value and lead reform of the IT industry by reforming the customer satisfaction processes, extending Cloud Computing and advancing into a greater global domain.”
KT has led the changes in the domestic IT industry paradigm over the past two years, opening the full-fledged smart phone service age by leading the second jump of the IT industry after igniting the smart phone revolution by merging KT and KTF, launching convergence services and introducing the iPhone service in 2009, and by introducing the Open Echo System, Win-Win Growth Policy for small and medium-sized businesses and Cloud Computing in 2010. In so doing, KT exceeded 20 trillion won in sales for the first time, while its group sales increased by 15 percent over 2009, securing the growth and profitability of the entire group. nw