KT Tops DJSI List in IT Supersector

Chairman and CEO Lee's constant emphasis on innovation pays off

KT Corp. has been listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) for the second straight year and climbed to the top position in the IT field, one of the 19 supersector categories, this year.
Samsung Electronics was also named to the top of the DJSI list in the technology supersector, Hyundai Engineering & Construction topped in the construction & materials supersector and Lotte Shopping ranked highest in the retail supersector.
Only 10 telecom providers were listed on the DJSI and KT was the leader in the IT field, surpassing IT leaders such as British Telecom, Vodaphone, Telefonica and China Mobile. Telefonica of Spain topped the DJSI list in the IT supersector last year.
A total of 2,500 companies around the world applied for a listing on the DJSI this year, but only 342 applicants, including 16 Korean companies, were included on the indexes.
Established in 1999, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (www.sustainability-indexes.com) are the first global stock indexes tracking the financial performance of leading sustainability-driven companies. Updated annually, companies are reviewed based on a thorough analysis of corporate economic, environmental and social performance, assessing issues such as corporate governance, risk management, branding, climate change mitigation, supply chain standards and labor practices.
KT's rise to the No. 1 position in the DJSI list in the IT supersector category was owed to KT Chairman and CEO Lee Suk-chae's constant emphasis on innovation, which led to the Korean telecom provider' listing on the DJSI list and eventually topping the list in the IT supersector.
KT received the highest points in overall management areas such as R&D and products, response to climate change, gifted manpower management, protection of private information and risk management. The company was given equivalents to the industry's highest points in the area of supply network management, a yardstick for measuring relations with SMEs. KT also received the highest points in the areas of development of services and influence. KT caused a sensation in the Korean telecommunications market when it lowered data prices by 88 percent in November 2009, and the company became the first Korean telecom provider to supply i-Phone smartphones in Korea. In the telecommunications service field, KT established about 84,000 WiFi hotspots capable of effectively handling large volumes of traffic.
Chairman Lee's innovation is noteworthy in the cabled telecommunications field. It has introduced "olleh" TV SkyLife, a combination of the strong points of the satellite TV and IT sectors, while the company has succeeded in exploring the domestic robot market by introducing and selling 10,000 robots for children's education in only five months since its debut.
KT has a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 20 percent by 2013 through the utilization of alternative energy sources, the improvement of telecommunications and IT infrastructure and the changing of the working environment as strategies to tackle climate change issues.
KT also attached priority on improving shared growth with SMEs by taking steps to prevent the harmful consequences of the lowest bidding system. He stressed the significance of shared growth with SME business partners. KT decided to strengthen its scrutiny into the fairness of deals with subcontractors in a way that the benefits of its policies for shared growth can reach second contract business partners. KT's subcontractors are required to guarantee its second contractors more than 80 percent of the value of the contracts with KT.
KT Teams Up with Global Games Cos.
Signs an MOU with U.S. Exent to provide mobile and PC games
KT plans to showcase foreign game companies' renowned games to Korean game enthusiasts. On Sept. 7, KT (Chairman Li Suk-chae, www.kt.com) and the U.S. game distributor, Exent, signed an MOU to supply mobile and PC games between KT Contents & Media Business Division Manager Song Yeong-hi (executive director) and Peter von Schlossberg of Exent at Exent's New York branch office in the U.S.
KT plans to offer 200 mobile games and about 1,800 PC games from Exent at the Olleh Market and KT brand corner of Olleh.com.
Exent's classic games include Jewel Quest III, Mah Jong Quest III and Farm Frenzy. KT plans to operate the PC games corner within the Olleh.com, centered on Exent's games.
Meanwhile, KT also plans to offer 6 mobile games within the year, together with Glu Mobile (www.glu.com), well known for "Gun Bros". The games under negotiation with this third-ranking U.S. mobile game company, include Gun Bros, Contract Killer and Big Time Gangsta, which rank high among games for iOS. KT Contents & Media Business Division Manager Song Young-hee said, "The alliance with global game companies is one of our efforts to globalize the content of KT's business." And she added, "We plan to strive to broaden the selection range for customers and forge alliances with domestic and international game companies to provide high quality content."
In the meantime, Exent, headquartered in Israel with branches in the U.S. and other regions, is the largest CA (Content Aggregator) in North America. Extent globally distributes games from world-renowned game developers through self-developed solutions and methods. Exent is the exclusive provider of mobile and PC games for Verizon, the largest communications provider in the U.S.

'olleh Market' Advances into Japanese Application Market!
KT disclosed on Aug. 31 that it has advanced into the Japanese application market together with local developers by opening 'olleh Market' in 'Dokomo Market', the app store of NTT Dokomo (DCM), Japan's leading mobile phone carrier, as part of the 'One Asia Super Inter Store (OASIS)' project for the exchange of apps among Korea, China and Japan.
Last July, KT already launched olleh Market in China's Mobile Market (MM) in the form of 'shop in shop'. By launching olleh Market in NTT Dokomo Market, Japan's top-ranking mobile phone operator with 50 million subscribers, KT is now able to introduce outstanding apps by Korean developers to more than 650 million customers in China and Japan.
KT will launch 30 games and apps suitable to Japanese consumers' characteristics, first, and then plans to increase to 100 apps by the end of the year by adding apps using Korean style content.
OASIS is a project for the exchange of applications among Korea, China and Japan that is promoted under the Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement (SCFA), which was entered into by representative mobile service operators from each country last January. KT jointly advances into the overseas market, together with the developers, by providing local and proofing support, after selecting apps that are to advance into the Chinese and Japanese market.
In particular, KT and NTT Dokomo have steadily exchanged outstanding mobile content by collaborating on joint terminal sourcing and roaming services through their Business & Technology Cooperation Committee (BTCC) since 2006. For commemorating the current launch of the olleh Market in Japan, NTT Dokomo has rendered unsparing assistance and support, including having the olleh Market menu exposed on the initial screen of Dokomo Market. nw

KT Corp. Chairman & CEO Lee Suk-chae

KT Corp. is strengthening its presence in the global game and application markets.

Photo on Courtesy of KT