KT to invest 27 trillion won over the next five years

KT will invest 27 trillion won ($21.5 billion) over the next five years, the company announced Thursday.

KT plans to pour 12 trillion won into the telecom business by 2026, focusing on enhancing the reliability of the nationwide network and developing the next-generation communication technologies.

Funds will be utilized to build more disaster recovery centers outside the greater Seoul area. Disaster recovery centers serve as backup sites for data and operating systems in case of natural disasters and other emergency situations. Network path diversification is a priority to make its key services, such as high-speed internet, IPTV, and wireless networks, more reliable. KT will invest in 5G and 6G research and development.

For its “Digico” units, which refer to non-telecom businesses, KT will invest another 12 trillion won to diversify its service product line-up.

Out of the 12-trillion won investment, 1.5 trillion won will be put into new businesses related to robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and data technologies, such as automated contact center services.

Of the total. 1,7 trillion won will go into cloud and internet data center businesses. KT spun off its cloud business as KT Cloud on April 1. KT Cloud’s service products include a beta test version of a software-powered “hyperscale AI computing” service, which boosts the computing capabilities of a device by providing users with virtualized graphic processing units (GPUs). A virtual GPU is a technology that uses a server to process tasks instead of an actual, physical GPU in a device.

KT’s Digico unit includes the content business as well. KT will invest 2.6 trillion won in its content business, with a focus on content production and service expansion. KT said that a global expansion plan for its IPTV service is also underway.

KT will invest 3 trillion won in startups by 2026. It has invested in a number of startups over the past few years, including The Pinkfong Company, which is famous for its “Baby Shark Dance” (2016), Megazone Cloud and Yanolja.

Aside from the 27-trillion investment, KT will spend an additional 6 trillion won in acquiring media content, the company added.

KT and related companies have directly and indirectly created 143,000 jobs as of now, KT said, and plan to hire 28,000 new employees over the next five years.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of KT’s privatization, according to the company.

"KT will serve to strengthen Korea's competitiveness in key industries by actively investing in hyper-connectivity infrastructure and Digico businesses, fostering digital talent and creating new jobs," said KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]