[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The three major domestic telecommunications companies are expanding online education content integrated with ICT technology, positioning themselves as so-called 'untact (non-face-to-face) era education platforms.'
This is a response to the prolonged impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), which has increased the need for non-face-to-face education at home, as most schools have adopted remote classes. To dominate the non-face-to-face education market, they have launched CEO-direct organizations and are actively utilizing AR and VR.
According to the telecommunications industry on the 12th, the three major domestic telecommunications companies are rushing to enter the edutech sector. Edutech is a compound word of 'Education' and 'Technology,' referring to providing customized and immersive learning by applying the latest ICT technology to education.
◆"LG Uplus solidifies education" LG Uplus launches 'U+Elementary Nara' following 'U+tv Kids Nara'
LG Uplus has launched a home learning service 'U+Elementary Nara' targeting elementary school students, following the dedicated service for toddlers 'U+tv Kids Nara.'
U+Elementary Nara is characterized by enabling rich education through a single application, covering the regular elementary school curriculum, English and second foreign languages tailored to the child's level, and immersive content. Customers with tablets running Android OS 7.0 or higher can download and use U+Elementary Nara immediately after subscribing to the additional service.
Jung Sook-kyung, head of LG Uplus Smart Education Business Group, said, "U+Elementary Nara, developed with the educational know-how accumulated through Kids Nara, boasts the most credible specialized content in each field and reasonable pricing."
This service is the first result of the Smart Education Business Group, a CEO-direct organization launched in July. LG Uplus focused on the rapidly changing non-face-to-face education environment after the spread of COVID-19 and established the Smart Education Business Group in an agile organizational form capable of quickly executing from discovering customer needs to service operation within the industry.
Following the educational service U+Kids Nara for preschool children, LG Uplus has expanded its scope to elementary school students, solidifying the image of 'Education is LG Uplus.'
◆KT partners with Sigong Group, SK Telecom provides AI curriculum to universities
KT recently started joint development of homeschooling services for kindergarten and elementary to middle school students with three educational subsidiaries of Sigong Group, the number one smart learning company: Icecream Media, Icecream Edu, and PDM (Icecream Kids).
KT plans to launch the 'KT AI Home Run Pack (tentative name)' within the year, combining its telecommunications products with Icecream Edu's elementary and middle school education service 'AI Home Run.' Additionally, KT will allow users to experience Sigong Group's home learning content such as 'Little Home Run' and 'Nuri Play' for toddlers on Olleh TV Kids Land. Next year, KT plans to introduce the 'AI Home Run' service with AI technology applied to its GiGA Genie on Olleh TV.
Alongside this, KT is building a non-face-to-face online education platform and will provide a free pilot service during the second semester of this year to 11 elementary schools in Seoul. KT explains that its online education platform is the first one-stop integrated platform that provides all functions necessary for remote classes, including real-time video classes, class material production and management, attendance, and assignment management.
SK Telecom has embarked on nurturing AI talent in universities through online non-face-to-face lectures. From the second half of this year, it will provide an 'AI Curriculum' containing lectures by AI field employees to 16 universities. This curriculum includes practical courses by 15 PhD-level experts in AI technology fields such as voice recognition AI platform NUGU, voice recognition, video recognition, and recommendation technology. Additionally, 113 educational contents related to the 4th industrial revolution, including AI, big data, and cloud, previously provided to employees, will be supplied as supplementary lecture materials.
SK Telecom is also focusing on building a non-face-to-face education platform using its high-definition group video call service 'Meeter.' Meeter is a service that allows up to 100 participants in a video call. SK Telecom has been conducting beta tests for remote education services based on Meeter since early this year at schools such as Gimpo Sinpung Elementary School.
◆Non-face-to-face education becomes routine... Domestic edutech market expected to exceed 10 trillion won this year
The telecommunications industry's move to position themselves as non-face-to-face education platforms is based on the judgment that the edutech market is expanding due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, Generation Z, born after 1995, is understood to prefer digital learning using YouTube and educational applications.
In LG Uplus's own customer survey conducted on 750 parents with elementary school children before the service launch, 31.3% of respondents said their priority in preferred education types changed after the COVID-19 situation. The education types with sharply increased interest after COVID-19 were 'online learning' (+60.8 percentage points) and 'self-education' (+27.2 percentage points).
According to the US data research company HolonIQ, the global edutech industry market size is expected to expand from $152 billion in 2018 to $342 billion by 2025. The domestic edutech market size is estimated to exceed approximately 10 trillion won this year.
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