SEOUL, KOREA – “It is natural to see the emergence of OTT (over-the-top) business models, such as KakaoTalk and Netflix, which do not have their own networks but generate revenues by leveraging the existing communications environment. Rather than whining about their ever-growing presence in the market, telecom operators have to ponder over ways to reinvent themselves,“ KT Chairman Lee Suk-chae said in his keynote speech centered on “virtual goods” at the MWC 2013.
The starting point for virtual goods mentioned by Chairman Lee is the gigantic cyberspace. The advent of LTE and All-IP will further expand virtual spaces in networks, where the share of voice calls and text messages (the top two revenue sources for telecom operators) pales greatly in comparison to that of data services. However, data services make money for OTT businesses, such as Google, Amazon, NHN and KakaoTalk, not for telecom operators.
In his keynote speech, Chairman Lee said, ”It is impossible for telecom carriers to stay afloat simply by doing their traditional communications business. We have to innovate to morph into IT companies. KT will build a platform whereby young people can sell diverse virtual goods such as contents and software to the global market without bearing market entry costs.”
Sean Chung (hbpark@etnews.com)
**Article provided by etnews [Korea IT News]
[Reference] : http://english.etnews.com/electronics/2715655_1303.html
