LG Uplus aims to double corporate value via platforms

LG Uplus Corp., the third-largest mobile carrier in South Korea, is slated to increase its corporate value to 12 trillion won ($8.6 billion) by 2027 by expanding the non-telecom services business to 40% of the total.

The company announced its mid- to long-term growth strategies on Thursday at a press conference held in The Ambassador Seoul - A Pullman Hotel. 

As of 2021, LG Uplus’ corporate value amounted to 6 trillion won, with non-telecom services accounting for 20% of the total. The company aims to double both the percentage and corporate value by 2027, said LG Uplus President Hwang Hyeon-sik.  

The company will set up big four platform businesses – lifestyle, entertainment, childcare and future technologies – in a bid to innovate customer experiences and encourage users to spend more time on the company’s services, Hwang said.

“We see the LG Uplus 1.0 era as the period until 2010 when LG’s three wired and wireless communications providers were merged and became the current company. The 2.0 era came as we’ve become a leading telecom company based on long-term evolution (LTE) and 5G network services,” the president said.

“We’ll start the 3.0 era focusing on future growth engines beyond traditional telecom businesses. The growth engines will be based on data and technologies to provide users with customized solutions,” the president added.

LIFESTYLE, ENTERTAINMENT, CHILDCARE, WEB 3.0

The lifestyle platform aims to provide tailored services for users’ daily routines. LG Uplus launched Udok in July, a monthly subscription service that connects to 24 partner companies. Users can choose the services they want, including over-the-top (OTT) services Netflix and Disney+, food delivery services like Yogiyo, beauty products and others, for lower prices.   

The mobile carrier is planning to develop healthcare, pet care and travel businesses based on customer data on the lifestyle platform, which aims to increase users to 7 million within five years.

The entertainment platform will provide leisure content. Uplus TV, the firm’s internet protocol television (IPTV) will offer both its program channels and OTT lineups.

“In response to fiercer competition in the OTT market, Uplus TV will provide various OTT services as well as our in-house content on sports and K-pop stars,” the president said.  

The firm launched an upgraded version of Idol Plus, a K-pop content platform, in a partnership with LG Electronics Inc. earlier this month. The platform is to take K-pop live performance, extended reality (XR) online performance and related metaverse content to the global market via LG’s smart TVs.

The childcare platform provides mobile OTT services for kids' education. LG Uplus has offered children's education content, named Kids Land, via its IPTV and will expand the customized services by recommending child carers, teachers and textbooks.

“The IPTV-based broadcasting had limits to understanding customers’ content usage patterns. We’ll set up a subscription-based education content platform, which will grow as a leading OTT service for children, to expand communication between kids and parents,” said the president.

The company will target the business-to-business market, such as kindergartens, and export the content, the president added.

The mobile carrier is also set to create a business model to improve customer value by using Web 3.0, the next-generation internet with decentralized services based on blockchain.  

The company will set up new compensation systems with K-pop content non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to attract Millennials and Generation Z, as well as bulk up investing in metaverse technologies and startups.

The company’s transformation into platform businesses will expand to advertising, commerce and business-to-business, the president noted.

“To innovate customers’ experience, we should encourage them to stay longer on our services. We’ll put our efforts into the four big businesses for users to better enjoy our platforms,” the president added.

Write to Han-Gyeol Seon at always@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.