LG Uplus to Open Second AR Studio in Sangam

Strengthening 5G Immersive Content... Operating the Most Dedicated Studios Among Domestic Telecom Companies

LG Uplus is creating a dance motion demonstration video with 360-degree viewing capability at the AR Studio established last year for producing ultra-high-definition augmented reality (AR) content.
[Photo by LG Uplus]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] LG Uplus is opening the second chapter of its AR Studio, which produces ultra-high-definition augmented reality (AR) content. Following the world’s first facility unveiled in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul in May last year, the company is adding another location to strengthen immersive content within just over a year. An LG Uplus official said on the 25th, "We plan to open the second AR Studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul in the second half of this year." With this, LG Uplus will operate the largest number of studios dedicated to immersive content among domestic mobile carriers. The official added, "With the establishment of the second studio, we expect to enhance our immersive content production capabilities and connect more with the core 5G customer base, the 'MZ generation' (those born from the 1980s to the early 2000s)."

Exclusive VR Content Rights for Cirque du Soleil
Connected with TV Home Shopping... 'U+AR' Also Sees a Boom

Immersive content is a field that LG Uplus Vice Chairman Ha Hyun-hoe has devoted considerable effort to. Ahead of the 5G commercialization last year, he expressed his ambition to "lead the AR and virtual reality (VR) sectors." This vision has been put into action. A representative example is the production of the popular performance "Cirque du Soleil" as VR content, which has attracted over 200 million viewers worldwide. Collaborating with the Canadian Cirque du Soleil immersive content producer, they installed over 100 cameras in the performance venue and used computer graphics (CG) to enhance immersion, providing the content since April last year.

An LG Uplus official said, "Cirque du Soleil was initially skeptical about producing offline performances in VR," but "their evaluation changed after confirming the content’s quality." Ultimately, in November last year, LG Uplus secured exclusive global rights to this VR content. Currently, the most popular content on the application 'U+VR' is also Cirque du Soleil.

The 'U+AR Shopping' service, which connects TV home shopping with AR technology, is also enjoying a boom. When users point their smartphones at TV home shopping screens, product information appears in AR, and discount coupons can be received. According to LG Uplus, despite the adverse effects of COVID-19, the number of U+AR Shopping users last month increased fourfold compared to January this year, and the number of actual purchases increased by 750% compared to the beginning of the year.

Starting today, LG Uplus plans to apply AR technology to agricultural products from domestic fruit farms and small and medium-sized enterprises sold on GS Home Shopping to help boost sales of these products. Son Min-seon, LG Uplus Cloud Service Director, said, "Through various collaborations with home shopping, we will evolve into a new shopping service in the untact era that provides differentiated experiences."

$10 Million Export Achievement
Investment More Than Doubled

LG Uplus owns about 20,000 pieces of 5G-exclusive content, of which 4,000 are related to AR and VR. Over the past year, by showcasing competitive immersive content, the company has received 'love calls' from countries that have started 5G commercialization later. Following the export of VR content to China Telecom, which has 320 million subscribers, in October last year, LG Uplus signed export contracts for AR content and production solutions last month.

So far, AR and VR content and solutions exported to four companies including Hong Kong Telecom, Japanese carrier KDDI, and Taiwan Chunghwa Telecom amount to $10 million (approximately 12 billion KRW). LG Uplus has decided to invest 2.6 trillion KRW over five years in the production, procurement, and technology development of innovative 5G content such as AR and VR. This investment is more than double the amount invested in the content sector over the previous five years.