KT gets smart with a new multipurpose card

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KT gets smart with a new multipurpose card

What should you do when you face a soon to be saturated market? KT Corp., the largest carrier in both high speed Internet service and fixed line markets in Korea, decided to add a new category to its business portfolio -- smart cards. The company launched a smart card jointly with three of the four largest credit card issuers in Korea. Smart card refers to a plastic card that has an integrated circuit chip on it. It can be used for a wide variety of purposes, ranging from storing medical or auto maintenance histories to being used as a door key. “We launched a convergence business, where information technology meets finances,” Lee Young-kyung, chief executive of KT, said. “We think the broadband market will be saturated this year,” Yoon Jong-rok, a marketing executive at KT, said. “This is an effort to find a new profit base -- and turn it into a solution provider.” Except for Samsung Card, three of the four largest players, namely LG Card, Kookmin Credit Card, and BC Card joined hands with KT, Kim Young-whan, vice president of KT, said. KT’s new plastic cards have both magnetic strips and integrated circuit chips, and can be used as credit cards and electronic currency, meaning a payment is wired out of your account and transacted on the spot. The cards can also store government certified electronic signatures, support automatic logins to online shopping malls, and be used to pay transportation fares. KT will provide and manage the terminals that are necessary to read the cards to merchants and homes, and take commissions, Mr. Kim said. “We hope the card contributes to easier electronic commerce,” Mr. Kim said. KT plans to attract 6 million subscribers for the card before the end of the year, and provide 3 million terminals to attract 100,000 offline merchants and 1,500 online merchants. As of November 2002, more than 10 million Koreans subscribed to broadband services, of which KT had 4.6 million. by Kim Hyo-jin
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