KT chairman says carriers should lead IoT progress

KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu, right, talks with panelists including, from left, Anne Bouverot, director general of GSMA, Jon Fredrik Baksaas, president and CEO of Telenor, and Xi Guohua, chairman of China Mobile, at MAE. [NEWSIS]

KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu discussed the leading role that mobile carriers should play to push for the advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT) during his keynote address at the Mobile Asia Expo (MAE) in Shanghai yesterday.

KT said the chairman suggested the direction for mobile carriers in the IoT industry in his speech “Creating value beyond connectivity: Gigatopia.”

“For the early activation of the IoT industry, which mobile carriers regard as the new avenue for future growth, we must establish global standards for IoT businesses and a global hub to share IoT data,” Hwang said.

“Let’s create new business opportunities through IoT services with mobile carriers providing the infrastructure.”

Hwang said mobile carriers should prepare for a variety of standards in IoT and incorporate them to create an international standard, so as to make IoT affordable and easily accessible.

In the long run, the chairman said, a global IoT data sharing hub would help create new businesses and solve social problems of transportation, security and environment through connectivity and data sharing.

It will also create an ecosystem in which device manufacturers, software developers and service providers can freely exchange and use data, Hwang said.

The chairman also suggested launching a global forum to encourage cooperation between operators and to present new business models, standardize technology and share visions.

“In order for the IoT industry to prosper, mobile carriers must cooperate with start-ups with creative ideas,” Hwang said. “In preparation for the IoT era, KT is building open platforms based on giga infrastructure and promoting a great leap as a smart companion in the gigatopia age.”

Gigatopia refers to the world connected to the giga Internet. KT is set to invest 4.5 trillion won ($4.42 billion) over the next three years to build a giga infrastructure of wired and wireless networks.

“Our challenge toward gigatopia is a challenge that we all face. No one can reach their goals alone in the IoT world, where everything is connected,” the chairman said. “Let’s push for an IoT revolution for common prosperity through cooperation.”

The MAE is the largest mobile communications exhibition in Asia, attended by about 200 companies worldwide, including the nation’s No. 1 mobile carrier SK Telecom and the second-largest operator, KT.

BY kim jung-yoon [kjy@joongang.co.kr]