President Yoon Suk Yeol recently detailed South Korea’s aggressive moves to establish its supremacy in the global semiconductor sector, including a staggering $6.94 billion commitment to AI by 2027. Amid fierce competition, South Korea’s largest telecom firm, SK Telecom, is paralleling governmental efforts with its own investment in AI firms.
DTST successfully merges Flagship Solutions Group and CloudFirst. Senior Technology Analyst Anisha Bhatia underscores the game-changing impact of Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series. NTT DoCoMo utilizes AI to generate diverse NPCs in metaverses, extends genAI initiatives to predict and visualize changes in the human brain. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol unveils a $471 billion initiative by 2047 to establish the world’s largest semiconductor cluster.
SK Telecom, South Korea’s leading mobile carrier, has partnered with Joby Aviation, a California-based aerospace company developing an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL). The two parties will collaborate on urban air mobility, which is an ecosystem that includes personal air vehicles and infrastructure such as a new navigation system, take-off and landing fields, and charging technologies. Joby’s experience showcasing eVTOL will be included into SKT’s information and communication technology infrastructure under a strategic partnership agreement. The two businesses will collaborate in all areas, including aircraft and mobility as a service, to provide emissions-free aerial ridesharing to cities and communities around South Korea. SKT and Joby plan to enable multi-modal travel using SKT’s T Map mobility platform and UT’s ride-hailing service. SKT aspires to become a connected intelligence leader that logically links physical elements such as UAM airplanes, vertiports and ground transportation by utilizing its capabilities in…
Singapore based Epsilon Telecommunications, a global connectivity provider simplifying the connectivity for companies, applications and information worldwide as well as in the cloud, has been acquired for $145 million by KT Corporation, South Korea’s largest telecommunication operator. Epsilon has 260 points of presence in 41 locations across 20 countries, including the Chinese mainland. Furthermore, the firm has data centers in London, New York and Singapore. The firm offers cloud, ethernet, SD-WAN, colocation and voice services, as well as its own network-as-a-service platform called Infiny. “The acquisition of Epsilon by KT is a great milestone on our company’s journey and recognition of the hard work of our teams across the globe,” said Michel Robert, Chief Executive Officer at Epsilon Telecommunications. “The acquisition is a logical next step for both businesses and a fantastic opportunity for customers, partners and internal teams.” KT purchased the company in collaboration with the…
SK Telecom, South Korea’s leading mobile carrier, recently launched a new subscription service and also purchased a 20% stake in Korea Content Platform (KCP), a US-based joint venture of Korean terrestrial broadcasters. In addition, the company began monitoring marine pollution with Hoseo University and the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. On Sunday, SK Telecom announced that it had finalized the acquisition of a 20% shareholding in KCP for $25.8 million in order to expand the content portfolio and audience base of its over-the-top (OTT) platform Wavve. According to industry experts, the presence of KCP in the United States will aid in the creation of synergy with Wavve. In addition, the company has introduced a suite of subscription services, named ‘T Universe’, for its clients, which appear to be a collection of ecommerce services. While there will be several subscription packages available, the main one is called Universe Pass,…
SK Telecom, the South Korean wireless telecommunications giant, with the approval of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, has announced the launch of a new blockchain-based wallet for digital document storage. This major step could prompt South Korea to rapidly digitize state-issued documents. As claimed by SK Telecom, the wallet will be driven by blockchain technology and will work together with the Government24 Digital Initiative program, which endorses the issuing and distribution of certificates digitally. This initiative is especially relevant as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread worldwide. The company’s blockchain-powered wallet will work in conjunction with the Government24 app, sharing documents seamlessly between these endpoints, as well as with local and government institutions, banks and insurance providers. Citizens will be able share documents such as immigration certificates, copies of resident registration cards, health insurance documents using the mobile app managed by the blockchain. As reported by…
Spanish telecom operator MasMovil agrees $3.3 billion private equity bid KKR, Cinven and Providence have made their Public Acquisition Offer for Spanish telecoms operator MasMovil. The three venture capital funds have proposed to pay EUR 22.5 per share of the telco, which is valued at almost EUR 3 billion. According to the statement, KKR, Cinven and Providence will pay a 20 percent premium on the current MasMovil share price. Meinrad Spenger, MasMovil Chief Executive, said that they have signed an agreement with the bidders on a deal which would be “beneficial for the shareholders and other stakeholders in the company.” Furthermore, the bidders noted that they would maintain continuity in MasMovil’s strategy, staff and executive team. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/y754vsc9 Google Cloud signs major UK government deal The technology giant Google Cloud has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) to make its cloud solutions…
According to a report by the US-based Pew Research Center, nine out of ten South Koreans own a smartphone, indicating the highest level of smartphone usage in the world. The study revealed that a staggering 95 percent of the population in South Korea has a smartphone, while the remaining 5 percent of the nation uses a mobile phone without access to the Internet. More than 30,133 people in 27 countries took part in the survey conducted last year. It transpired that three out of four adults used smartphones in 18 developed countries. According to the survey, Israel came in second with 88 percent, followed by the Netherlands with 87 percent, and Sweden with 86 percent. Australia, the U.S., Spain, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Argentina, Japan and Canada followed, with the ownership of smartphones ranging from 81 percent in the U.S. to 66 percent in Canada. Among the advanced…
Grand X, a subsidiary of the leading South Korean mobile operator Kakao, has unveiled the test version of their blockchain platform called Klaytn. At the moment, the testnet version of this service-centered blockchain platform has only been offered to 10 partners of Kakako, along with a publicly available whitepaper to outline the network potential and capabilities. If all goes well, the mainnet version of the network is expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2019. According to the information in Klaytn’s whitepaper, this network focuses on a seamless user experience for all parties, including developers and end users. “The popularization of blockchain requires providing a practical blockchain service for mass adoption thereby validating the value and utility of blockchain technology. To achieve this, Ground X has designed Klaytn that can provide an easy and friendly environment for end users, service providers and developers all at…
The South Korean mobile carrier, KT (formerly Korea Telecom) has unveiled the world’s first blockchain-based commercial network, as reported by the Korean Herald. The telecom giant has implemented a blockchain layer on top of their ultra-speed nationwide commercial network to ensure maximum security and transparency for retail and business users. “Public blockchains have low processing speed and capacity, while private blockchains have low transparency. By applying blockchain onto our ultra-fast network, we have overcome both obstacles,” commented the head of the Blockchain Center at KT’s Institute of Convergence Technology, Seo Yeong-il. The mobile carrier expects to achieve the impressive number of 100 000 transactions per second by the end of 2019, while their current blockchain network capability is 2500 transactions per second. Furthermore, KT has already implemented this disruptive technology in their user identification process, eliminating the need for personal IDs and passwords. The company is also working closely with…
