KT switches focus to going global

Korean telecom giant aims for W4 trillion in sales abroad by 2015


KT, the country’s biggest fixed-line service operator, is aiming to become a leading global company, projecting about 4 trillion won ($3.47 billion) in overseas yearly sales and global projects taking up 10 percent of its operations by 2015.

Although the firm did not unveil the specific outline of its global business, a top executive said it will proceed with the projects based on four rough strategies: participating in stake investment of foreign companies; forming alliances with global telecoms for joint ventures; strengthening partnerships with firms in manufacturing, solution-offering and consulting; and commercialization of its affiliates and smaller companies’ expertise and competence.

According to Kim Hong-jin, chief operating officer of the global and enterprise group at KT, global businesses accounted for just 2 percent, or 700 billion won ($609.65 million), of the telecom’s total sales last year of about 25 trillion won. More than 70 percent was attributed to network business, followed by the non-network business with 29 percent.

But Kim said he is aiming for a record sales figure of as high as 3.9 trillion won in the next three years.

“I believe this will inevitably take place as there is much space for a global expansion,” he told reporters. “Cloud, virtual goods, convergence and global expansion are the direction the company needs to take in the future.”

However, Kim kept mum about what projects are on the priority list and how the company will reach its 2015 goal ― set more than five times higher than last year’s global sales figure.

What he did reveal at the event was that KT is gearing up to dispatch its employees to overseas offices and branches in 2015.

“I’m hoping that we can send about 1,000 of our own employees abroad and have another 1,000 employed at overseas offices by that time,” said Kim.

He also said KT has established four different regional organizations in Asia, Europe, the U.S. and Africa for the first time this year to match the needs of the particular regions.

In a related bid, it has systemized its global product portfolio on the basis that all KT products need to have a focus on going global, according to Kim.

“We’ve gone forward with the project-based method for international businesses in the past, but we now are looking to develop businesses that have a regional specialty with our newly constructed tool which is deemed to make it happen,” he said.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)