SK Telecom (Korea’s largest telecommunications company), which marks the first anniversary of its launch, is planning to enter the global market within this year by installing new technologies such as sponsorship functions.
SK Telecom announced on the 13th that it has completed development of English version of Efriend. Based on this, SK Telecom is planning to release E-Land sequentially from the second half of this year in partnership with major global telecommunication companies such as Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East.SK Telecom has already had a huge number of subscribers through its platforms (Cyworld), which has gained sensational popularity in Korea and was introduced before YouTube and Instagram, which are now in the spotlight for communication and photo-video. However, it was active only in Korea, and has a weak history of global promotion.SK Telecom is currently discussing ways to discover metaverse contents and conduct joint marketing with representative telecommunication companies in each region.
Efriend, which was released on July 14 last year, recorded a cumulative download of about 2.9 million in December, six months later. In June of this year, it surpassed 8.7 million downloads. Based on the strength of the live video relay function and support for simultaneous access of up to 131 people in Korea, more than 2,000 partner love calls were received from various companies and organizations.
Even after the lifting of the distance, the average monthly stay in the land for efriend users increased by about 10% from 55 minutes as of March to 61 minutes as of last month after social distancing was lifted.SK Telecom cited partnership with original content and external sources as major growth factors for Efland. According to SK Telecom, the volume metric concert “Metabus Music Festival,” which was introduced by Efriend last month, attracted more than 20,000 visitors during the event.SK Telecom is expanding its partnership with the outside world by hosting the metaverse audition “Tintin Audition” in cooperation with Dong-A University of Broadcasting and Arts this month.New functions such as point payment and sponsorship will be added during the third quarter of this year. If users participate in continuous activities such as attendance and mission performance, points that can be used like cash will be paid in the future.
It plans to introduce internal economic systems sequentially, such as adding a function to send sponsorships to hosts hosting metaverse meetings. It will also introduce an open 3D content platform that can make profits by selling costumes and items designed and produced by users themselves.
Through this, when the participation compensation system in the metaverse is activated, various economic activities in the metaverse are expected to open in earnest.
In addition, SK Telecom’s phone platform “T Phone” has changed its service name and function significantly to target the global market starting with North America in the first half of this year.
According to industries on the 10th, it is confirmed that SK Telecom plans to make a new name for T-phone’s global brand and enter global markets such as North American markets in the first half of this year.As of January, T Phone, which has 11 million subscribers in Korea, was launched in February 2014 as an app-type phone call platform that informs smartphone users of risk numbers such as spam and smishing and provides various functions such as group calls.SK Telecom has set a basic policy to independently expand T-phone into North America and Southeast Asia, and is working on establishing databases (DBs) for each country. It plans to establish an “open ecosystem” that can be connected to any domestic and foreign businesses, even if it proceeds independently to enter the market itself.It also plans to increase the possibility of success by adding new functions that accommodate global needs (demand) rather than simply expanding the number of users through local marketing.In particular, SK Telecom is considering changing the service name of T-phone in order to successfully enter the global market. An official from SK Telecom explained, “We are considering the name of a new service and are aiming for a global integrated brand,” adding, “We are also considering applying a separate brand in certain countries considering that it may not be able to consider the situation of each country.”
In fact, SK Telecom has started developing T-phone’s global brand with external companies since December last year, according to a business watch report. It is a task to newly configure service logos and app designs suitable for global brands.
SK Telecom expects that if the T-phone platform succeeds in entering the global market this year, it can be used as a bridgehead for various global services in the future. It is judged that the profit model can also be built in various ways according to the local situation.
SK Telecom’s new president Chung Ho-bak also stressed in his New Year’s address this year, “Let’s become Korea’s leading ICT company and create a global top-class platform through cooperation and investment with various operators,” raising the possibility of a stronger drive than ever.
However, competition with global market operators as well as providing services suitable for foreign users’ smartphone usage environments is expected to be the key to success.
An official from the company said, “There are competitive services of T-phone, such as phone apps installed in smartphones and services for various phone-related functions, but platforms that provide integrated services like T-phone are not identified.”
In addition, it is said that SK Telecom’s biggest concern is to create services suitable for the communication environment and customer needs of foreign markets such as North America. An official from SK Telecom said, “The plan may change depending on the DB construction work for each region, but we plan to advance in the order of North America and Southeast Asia,” adding, “We plan to develop the platform while testing existing and new functions.”
SOPHIA KIM
ASIA JOURNAL
