SKT and China Unicom agree on partnership

SK Telecom President and CEO Jang Dong-hyun, left, and Lu Yimin, president and vice chairman of China Unicom, shake hands after signing a memorandum of understanding on Sunday in South Africa. Provided by the company

The nation’s leading mobile carrier, SK Telecom, said on Sunday that it has signed an MOU with China Unicom to cooperate in telecommunications and new growth businesses.

Jang Dong-hyun, president and CEO of SKT, and Lu Yimin, president and vice chairman of China Unicom, signed the agreement in Cape Town, South Africa, where the GSMA Board Meeting was held.

SKT said it has been discussing with China Unicom cooperation in the ICT industry and in diverse areas including 5G technology, international roaming and start-ups.

With the intention of strengthening their competitiveness in the telecommunications business, SKT and China Unicom agreed to cooperate in the development of 5G network technologies.

SKT said it planned to share knowledge and conduct joint studies to promote the standardization and commercialization of the next-generation networks.

The company will also work with China Unicom to launch competitive roaming services that deliver greater benefits for subscribers.

With tourism recently booming between China and Korea, the partnership is intended to help the businesses provide better roaming services to their respective customers.

According to the Korea Tourism Organization, a total of 6.13 million Chinese visited Korea, while 4.18 million Koreans visited China last year.

Through the MOU, SKT and China Unicom will also collaborate on new growth businesses. The two will share knowledge about their platforms and work together to create more business opportunities in the ICT industry.

The two companies also agreed to cooperate in building an ecosystem for start-ups.

SKT said it will share its know-how to nurture start-ups and will create a cooperative incubator program.

The initiative will be designed to manage the entire start-up development process, from market research to product introduction.

BY KWON SANG-SOO kwon.sangsoo@joongang.co.kr