SK Square·SKT and Deutsche Telekom Discuss ICT Business Collaboration

SKT Strengthens Alliance with Deutsche Telekom for Global Expansion of 3 Major Big Tech Businesses
Vice Chairman Park Jung-ho and CEO Yoo Young-sang Attend Along with Technology and Business Executives

SKT CEO Yoo Young-sang (from left), SK Square Vice Chairman Park Jung-ho, Deutsche Telekom Chairman Timotheus H?ttges, and Claudia Nemat Vice Chairman are exchanging opinions.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] SK Square and SK Telecom announced on the 8th that on the 5th, they met with Timotheus H?ttges, Chairman of Deutsche Telekom, Claudia Nemat, Vice Chairman, and key executives at Deutsche Telekom headquarters in Bonn, Germany, to discuss cooperation in the information and communication technology (ICT) business.

This meeting was a follow-up event following the declaration of the launch of the 'SK ICT Alliance' by SK Square, SKT, and SK Hynix at CES 2022, the world's largest consumer electronics and IT exhibition held in Las Vegas, USA, last January, aimed at cooperating in ICT business and jointly promoting global expansion.

SKT explained that after announcing the global business promotion of the three next big tech areas (Metaverse, AI semiconductors, quantum cryptography) at MWC22 held in Barcelona, Spain, at the end of February, this meeting was arranged to create tangible business outcomes.

At this meeting, cooperation plans with Deutsche Telekom were discussed in various ICT fields actively pursued by SK Square and SKT, including ▲joint global promotion of the Metaverse business ▲cybersecurity business cooperation ▲One Store's entry into Europe ▲and ESG through green ICT.

About ten executives responsible for major businesses from each company attended the meeting, including Park Jung-ho, Vice Chairman of SK Square, and Yoo Young-sang, President of SKT. From Deutsche Telekom, about ten executives including Chairman Timotheus H?ttges and Vice Chairman Claudia Nemat, responsible for Metaverse, security, and strategy, also participated.

The first topic discussed was the Metaverse business, where SKT and Deutsche Telekom discussed cooperation plans for launching a 'European version of Ifland.' The two companies have been discussing SKT's Metaverse platform Ifland's entry into Europe since March, and Deutsche Telekom is known to have judged that SKT's Ifland platform can generate a positive market response in the European market as well.

They agreed to jointly conduct market tests of Ifland in various European regions starting with Germany within this year, and to jointly promote Metaverse content discovery and customer-targeted marketing. For example, leveraging Deutsche Telekom's deep understanding of the European market, they plan to develop virtual spaces modeled after specific German cities, along with dedicated avatars and costumes, to offer to Deutsche Telekom customers and conduct joint marketing.

Additionally, the two companies discussed establishing a joint venture that would serve as a forward base for the Metaverse business in Europe in the mid to long term. Through a local joint venture in Germany, they are expected to explore concrete cooperation plans with various telecommunications operators across European countries for the Metaverse business.

Regarding the cybersecurity business, SK Square's subsidiary SK Shielders and Deutsche Telekom's security business subsidiary Deutsche Telekom Security signed a letter of intent (LOI) to establish a strategic partnership. Through this LOI, the two companies agreed to cooperate in enhancing digital infrastructure defense systems and strengthening customer security levels in the security field.

They also discussed cooperation on commercializing video security technology and monitoring solutions jointly developed by SKT and SK Shielders using AI-based video analysis technology called 'Vision AI' in the European market together with Deutsche Telekom.

In the app store sector, One Store and Deutsche Telekom exchanged views on One Store platform's entry into Europe. It is known that One Store and Deutsche Telekom have already reached a consensus on the vision for a local app store business targeting the European market.

One Store and Deutsche Telekom agreed to continuously discuss specific plans such as governance and business strategies for promoting a 'European version of One Store,' including establishing a joint venture and equity investments by both companies.

In the ESG field, they discussed mutual cooperation plans to achieve net zero. SKT introduced a solution that operates the cooling system of communication base stations based on AI to improve cooling efficiency, while Deutsche Telekom introduced technology that supplies power to base stations using hydrogen and ammonia-type fuel cells without carbon dioxide emissions, exchanging opinions on ways to utilize each other's technologies and solutions.

Park Jung-ho, Vice Chairman of SK Square, said, "This meeting has significant meaning as the existing partnership between SKT and Deutsche Telekom has expanded to the SK ICT Alliance," emphasizing, "Deutsche Telekom will play a strong supporting role as the SK ICT Alliance from Korea enters the European market."

Yoo Young-sang, President of SKT, said, "Deutsche Telekom is an important partner in SKT's global expansion of the three big techs and five major businesses," adding, "We will continue to cooperate with Deutsche Telekom in future ICT fields."