New subsidiary of SK Telecom to go overseas with focus on Asian markets


SK Planet, a new platform subsidiary of the country’s top mobile carrier, said Tuesday it aimed to make the company worth 5 trillion won ($4.29 billion) within the next five years.

In its first press conference, the firm’s chief executive Seo Jin-woo told reporters that it plans to hit 3.5 trillion won in total sales by 2016.

He also said SK Planet will enter overseas markets, putting a focus on the nearby Asian markets to realize its goal.

The company, a new subsidiary and spin-off of SK Telecom, launched early this month and it oversees content businesses, such as the mobile marketplace T-Store, as well as location-based services like T-map, commerce projects and new media, according to company officials.

Indicating the firm’s ultimate goal is to become a global company, SK Planet will put greater weight on mid- and long-term results, said Seo.

“In the past, we made investment decisions depending on the amount of profit which would be collected in the following one to two years, but the new evaluation measure is now to become how much attention we can grab from our customers involving our product or services,” he said.

He also said that the firm will work on increasing its number of “unique users” from 3,500 to 200 million.

As an initial step, the company will open its mobile app store T-Store to all users, including subscribers of other mobile service operators, to transform it into a global marketplace, according to company officials.

It will also promote tie-ups with Chinese and Japanese firms for its Asian market dive, they said.

The firm will also allow people to freely use its mapping service, T-map, some time this month.

“We will not seek competition with local players, but find new ways to develop by competing with foreign players in other markets,” said Seo.

SK Telecom announced earlier in May that it would split its platform division and create a new platform subsidiary which would be in charge of non-mobile businesses, such as open platform projects, beginning in October.

The spin-off was later authorized by board members in July, noting the split would boost the project expertise and strengthen the competitiveness of related projects through efficient distribution of business resources.

The new subsidiary aims to respond quickly to market trends and take up more responsibility for its actions.

The local telecom giant had been headed by two presidents ― Ha Sung-min and Seo ― since their predecessor Chung Man-won was repositioned early this year.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)