KT, South Korea’s No. 2 telecom network carrier, said Monday it has secured a $110 million deal with the Uzbekistani government to build the nation’s advanced electricity metering system.

As part of a joint project with Asian Development Bank, KT plans to install smart electric readers at some 1 million houses in Uzbekistan’s three big cities by 2017.

The company said other related systems for data management and charging will be developed along with the readers that can be remotely controlled.

“This is the biggest deal KT has secured over the past years in the field of advanced electricity metering system,” said Im Tae-seong, KT’s global business chief.

“Smart electricity metering is one of our five new-growth engine businesses. Starting with the Uzbekistan project, we aim to expand our presence in other Commonwealth of Independent States.”

(jylee@heraldcorp.com)