SK Telecom expands metaverse platform with Asian tech partners

SK Telecom, a leading telecommunications provider in Korea, formed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with three Southeast Asian tech companies in a bid to propel its metaverse platform overseas.

The three partners, Malaysia’s leading telecom company Celcom Digi, Indonesia’s game publisher agate and IT company Cosimic Tech from the Philippines, will promote SK Telecom's metaverse platform ifland in their respective countries through localized marketing strategies and providing tailored content to its user base.

Ifland will be provided in four additional languages — Indonesian, Malay, Filipino and Spanish. The platform will also be equipped with curative services so that it can promote tailored content for users in different countries and SK Telecom will provide the necessary services to improve service quality.

The three Southeast Asian companies will work to promote and distribute appropriate content tailored to the respective demands of their userbases.

The partnership has been under discussion since the beginning of this year and from July underwent beta tests to localize the platform in each partner’s country.

SK Telecom says that it is aiming to expand its metaverse business globally to other regions in the United States, India and Europe.

The Korean telecom provider has been spearheading its metaverse business globally from November 2022, launching the platform across 49 countries in their respective app markets. The ifland app has become available in English, Japanese and Chinese since then.

“We partnered up with three representative IT companies in Southeast Asia and are now able to promote the platform through tailored marketing that will be provided through our partners,” said SK Telecom’s Yang Maeng-seok, head of the metaverse division, in a statement. “Through networking and forming more partnerships with foreign companies, we will do our best for ifland’s global users to be provided with appropriate cultural and social content.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]