LG U+ introduces ixi brand as it moves away from telecom

A model shows a mobile screen displaying LG U+ Sporki app, a community-based sports content service. [LG U+]

LG U+ on Tuesday introduced “ixi,” a new digital service brand, as seeks to diversify away from telecommunications, where growth has been slowing.

The company will provide both business-to-customer and business-to-business services under the ixi brand. The service line-up includes Sporki, an outcome-predicting model for sports games, automated call centers for small businesses and content sourcing for U+ TV streaming service.

“The ixi brand represents the company's ambition to offer a new service that would change the everyday lives of customers,” said Gabe Hwang, LG U+ chief data officer.

Sporki will be a community-based sports app that will provide match predictions, a live-streaming service, videos and the latest sports news updates.

In November, outcome and score predictions for the upcoming 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifying rounds — including those of the Korean national team — will be released on Sporki, said LG U+.

LG U+ plans to adopt the automated call center system for its customer service center starting next month. The automated call center system will convert the customer’s voice to text to analyze the request or question, and provide spoken answers.

The automated call center service for small businesses will be released in February of next year as well.

LG U+, the third-largest telecom company in Korea, has been doubling down on its effort to shift the focus toward the non-telecom businesses. It hopes to boost the non-telecom proportion of its revenues from last year’s 20 percent to 40 percent by 2027.

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