KT’s global digital push deepens with Singtel partnership

KT Corp. has joined hands with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel) to export its cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, as well as its data center operational system, a move that is expected to give fresh impetus to its global push in the business-to-business (B2B) market amid the fast migration toward digital transformation.

According to sources in the telecommunications industry on Tuesday, South Korea’s leading telecommunications company has recently launched a partnership committee with SingTel, joined by KT Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ku Hyeon-mo and SingTel Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon.

In the committee, KT and SingTel will jointly seek new opportunities in their data center, AI, cloud and digital transformation (DX) businesses. They are also mulling collaboration in hyperscale data center construction across Asia, according to sources.

SingTel is Southeast Asia’s biggest telecom company by market capitalization, servicing 770 million subscribers in 21 countries in Asia, including Australia, India, Indonesia and the Philippines.  

The two telecom giants’ new cooperation on the global stage comes as part of their efforts to find new revenue sources beyond the traditional telecommunications business.

“We have concluded that there is a limit to our global expansion with typical licensing businesses,” said an unnamed official from KT. “We will push the globalization of KT’s real identity amid the fast migration towards DX.”

KT and SingTel are also expected to consider joint investments through the committee for greater synergy than that from memorandum of understanding (MoU) partnerships.

MORE THAN DATA CENTER IN ASIA

KT and SingTel’s latest partnership is expected to create synergy in a data center project. KT has been successfully running DBO business, which designs, builds and operates internet data centers (IDC) for other service providers. It also offers its corporate clients operational systems and network to their data centers under its branded IDC business model.

SingTel has also recently expanded its presence in data center infrastructure business in Asia. It is currently building a new hyperscale data center in Batam, Indonesia, which is the first of its kind in the country. It is also building a data center in Bangkok, Thailand.

Under the latest partnership, KT is expected to design a data center and provide its operational systems and network, while SingTel and its partner telecom operator in each country will lead data center construction.

KT also pins high hopes on the DX business, which focuses on the development and sale of data analysis, processing, operation and management programs backed by AI, big data and cloud technologies.

It is jointly working with Globe Telecom Inc., a major telecommunications company in the Philippines, to build the latter’s AI contact center (AICC). SingTel holds a 21% stake in Globe.   

NEW PHASE OF KT’S DIGICO TRANSFORMATION

The KT-SingTel partnership committee is expected to pave the way for a new phase of the Korean telecom giant’s so-called Digico transformation. Digico, or the digital platform sector, includes telecom business such as network infrastructure, as well as data, media and content businesses using AI, cloud, big data and robots.

KT declared its transformation into a digital platform company from a traditional telecom company in 2020. Its pivot toward the B2B market with a focus on digital transformation services has gained traction since Ku took the reins as KT CEO in March 2020.  

It also announced in June 2022 a plan to invest nearly $10 billion in its digital platform sector by 2026. 

The new phase of KT’s Digico transformation will focus on fostering growth through a wide range of cooperation with foreign telecom companies and partners in other industries for non-telecom businesses. It has successfully expanded its presence in non-telecommunications B2B sectors recently.

CEO Ku will announce the details about the joint committee with SingTel during his key speech at this year’s MWC Barcelona in Spain on Feb. 27.


Write to Han-Gyeol Seon at always@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.