KT Aims at Being a Global Media Distributor

Chairman Lee enumerates his second-term vision calling for raising sales to 40 tln won by 2015

KT Corp. Chairman Lee Suk-chae declared his company’s new vision of becoming a global media distributor selling virtual goods.
Lee unveiled the vision for the second phase of KT’s “olleh” management, named after a company brand, at a news conference on March 19. He was recently given the green light for his second three-year term.
Reflecting on the outcomes of his first term as chairman at Olleh Square in the presence of the CEOs of KT’s subsidiaries, Lee said KT will get a jumpstart in the “Smart-Life” sector in which the whole world is unified and always connected by consummating the ongoing Business & Information System Transformation (BIT) within his tenure. BIT, launched in 2010, is designed to upgrade in-house systems, processes, and corporate culture to the world’s top rated ones, while the accumulated expertise will be made available to create business models and commercialize IT consulting services.
BIT involves companywide innovations of management information for swift and consistent decision-making as well as the way work is done. For customers, it shifts the service paradigm to a customer-oriented one by unifying marketing/business/service infrastructures. For a representative example, once the operation of contents, being offered individually according to services, are unified, ‘N-screen’ services will be made available by using the same contents regardless of devices used.
In order to attain the goal of becoming a global media distribution group, KT unveiled five tasks: a focus on nurturing IT media; expanding convergence businesses; becoming an innovative telecommunications leader; transforming itself into a global business leader; and creating social value.
As the first of KT’s action plans, he said, KT will take the lead in the ecosystem of distributing virtual goods. KT plan to distribute Korean moving image contents and channels on foreign markets through its subsidiary, Ustream. The Korean telecom giant will strengthen its presence in the application market via One Asia Super Inter-Store (OASIS) and Wholesale Applications Community (WAC).
KT plans to secure a viewership of 15 million paid broadcasting viewers by strengthening TV platforms. The company plans to improve clients’ convenience by providing N screen services using cloud computing and the development of customer-specific products based on olleh tv and SkyLife, as well as the development of TV-specific application services so that customers can use diverse contents via TV.
KT is adopting strategies to differentiate its content services from its rivals. For instance, Enswers, acquired by KT last year, will be utilized for offering differentiated content series through moving image search software programs with a competitive edge. In particular, KT will enable the execution of global media projects catering to Korean expatriates and overseas hallyu (Korean Wave) enthusiasts. KT plans to explore global distribution markets for selling virtual goods through collaboration with global players and the establishment of joint ventures.
In order to ensure the seamless distribution of virtual products, KT plans to maximize the efficiency of world-class cabled and wireless communications networks involving the inclusion of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to the existing 3Ws °™ WiFi, WCDMA and WiBro.

KT Corp. Chairman Lee Suk-chae and the CEOs of KT's subsidiaries raise their fists in a show of solidarity and determination after KT declared its new vision of becoming a global media distributor.