[Business Performance Roundup] Carriers growing their AI businesses ... investing, platforms, and customer experience in three distinct styles

As the three major mobile carriers released their third-quarter results for this year, all three were found to have increased enterprise infrastructure and AI business revenue, driven by rapid growth in AI data centers (AIDC).

However, their approaches to expanding AI businesses differed. SK Telecom (SKT) moved to improve AI infrastructure investment efficiency by using external funding, while KT pursued the "Token Factory" platform business for AI subscription management and billing support. LG Uplus focused on improving service convenience and operational efficiency by applying AI at customer touchpoints.

SKT's AIDC business revenue came to KRW 126.1 billion, up 6.2% from the same period last year. The growth factors cited were higher data center utilization and increased submarine cable traffic.

SKT's AI B2B and B2C revenue reached KRW 70 billion, up 27.3% on the back of new cloud business orders.

In terms of results, both KT and LG Uplus posted growth in enterprise businesses related to AI and cloud. However, KT's overall business revenue in the third quarter slowed, reflecting the base effect from last year's one-off gains from apartment sales and the impact of customer appreciation programs.

KT's AX segment revenue was KRW 393.3 billion, up 9.8% from the same period last year. KT Cloud revenue came to KRW 268.2 billion, up 7.7% from a year earlier.

The increase in KT Cloud revenue was driven by higher utilization at Gasan DC and growth in public cloud business. LG Uplus's enterprise infrastructure segment revenue was KRW 472.2 billion, up 10.4% from the same period last year, driven by AIDC growth.

There were differences among the companies in their approaches to expanding AI businesses. SKT chose an approach of using external funding to improve the efficiency of AI infrastructure investment.

KT is placing more weight on advancing a platform business that supports AI usage and billing. LG Uplus is approaching the market by applying AI at customer touchpoints to improve service convenience and operational efficiency.

SKT is pushing ahead with expanding its AI infrastructure business. Its core pillars are SK Hyper, which is in charge of AI data center development, and SK Horizon, which handles data center and submarine cable infrastructure business.

Considering the capital-intensive nature of the business, SKT said it will not invest using only its own funds. Accordingly, it plans to actively seek outside investment and reduce the burden of direct investment.

SKT cited customer demand and business viability as the criteria for investment execution. Its plan is to secure long-term customers, verify stability and profitability, and then consider investment.

SKT is also considering raising outside funds based on the verification results. The idea is to strike a balance between investment expansion and financial management.

SKT explained this at its third-quarter earnings conference call. The company said that compared with periods when there were no new data center developments, it is unavoidable that essential investment increases as the business expands. However, it plans to manage investment efficiency and financial soundness at the same time through the use of outside funding and other measures.

KT is strengthening its platform business that supports companies' use of AI. KT will launch "Token Factory" on October 30, and the platform is designed to provide integrated AI model selection, optimization, billing, and security. KT sees the platform's core value in reducing the burden on companies when using multiple AI models, and plans to provide more than 500 AI models from domestic and overseas partners in phases in cooperation with OpenRouter.

KT is extending the traffic management and billing system capabilities it has built up in the telecom business to AI services. Through this, it aims to secure new business opportunities based on support for enterprise AI use. It will also strengthen AI implementation capabilities at company sites.

In August, KT won a major financial-sector project based on its partnership with Palantir. It has also internalized forward-deployed engineers (FDE), who play a role in leading solution design, build, and execution at customer sites. Based on this, KT plans to expand its business into manufacturing and other sectors and improve profitability.

LG Uplus is applying AI to the telecom service usage process, which is the customer touchpoint. In its customer service integrated app, "U+one," the company has applied an AI agent for bill payment and an AI agent for roaming-related services. These agents support everything from consultation to task processing as conversational agents. The company plans to expand these functions across its telecommunications services as a whole.

In the consultation area, LG Uplus is focusing on its AI contact center (AICC) business. In its customer service center, it uses call bots and chatbots based on large language models (LLMs), and it also uses consultation advisors. According to the company's announcement, after introducing the call bot and chatbot, customer wait times fell from 47 seconds to 5 seconds. In addition, after using consultation advisors, consultation time was cut by 16%.

Based on the internal implementation experience it has confirmed in this process, LG Uplus is pursuing solution business for enterprise customers. The company is expanding into business solutions based on its operating experience and improved efficiency.

The company is pursuing the securing of telecom-specific technologies such as voice AI based on network and call data. Based on this, it also plans to expand its AICC customer base, centered on the financial sector.

Source: IT DAILY · Seong Won-young
Original: https://www.itdaily.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=242847

References

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