SK텔레콤의 대전환: AI 동맹의 확장과 고객 경험의 새로운 지평 > K-wave Trends

SK Telecom's most aggressive move can be found in expanding its influence in the global AI ecosystem. CEO Jeong Jae-heon joined hands with Japan's NTT and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom to create the 'IOWN AI Fund' worth about $500 million, establishing a close technological cooperation system among East Asian ICT companies. This fund is not simply an investment destination for financial gain, but will serve as a strategic hub to secure next-generation AI infrastructure such as AI data centers, semiconductors, and optical communication technologies. SK Telecom's plan to share the entire process from technology verification to commercialization by discovering startups across North America, Europe, and Asia clearly demonstrates SK Telecom's will to become a key player in the global AI market.

Our partnership with Antropic, a leader in artificial intelligence model development, is also becoming deeper and stronger. SK Telecom made additional investments in Antropic ahead of its IPO, choosing a strategy that focused on substantive technological cooperation rather than simply increasing the value of shares. In particular, it is very encouraging that we are the only Asian telecommunications company to participate in Antropic's security partnership, 'Project Glasswing', and have secured early access to core technologies that detect and defend against security vulnerabilities in AI models. This can be said to be a result of CEO Jeong Jae-heon's management philosophy to gain a strong competitive advantage in the future AI infrastructure and data business by internalizing security capabilities that determine the reliability of AI services.

Along with technological leaps, SK Telecom is also working to lower the entry barrier to service use and expand its customer base. Through the reorganization of 'Air', a self-sufficiency app, the door to benefits has been widened so that anyone can participate in missions within the app and accumulate points to use as Naver Pay or gift certificates, regardless of whether they subscribe to a plan. This is part of an effort to take advantage of Air, a 100% online service, to immediately resolve the inconveniences felt by customers using telecommunication services. In addition to improving the intuitive user experience (UX), aggressive promotions for new subscribers are interpreted as a stepping stone to provide greater benefits to self-sufficient users and solidify the user base of the platform.

Innovation in technology and platforms is ultimately completed as an emotional reward for ‘people.’ SK Telecom has significantly revamped the 'T Long-Term Customer Program' for long-term customers who have used the company for more than 10 years, and has significantly strengthened customer participation programs such as gourmet events, performance viewing, and theme park rentals. The strategy is to move away from the uniform benefits of simply giving more data and increase brand loyalty by giving customers experiences that are part of their daily lives. In addition, we are carefully taking care of the practical data use environment, such as abolishing the cap on data provision on subscription anniversary dates and improving the refill coupon payment method, and are creating an environment where companies and customers can work together for a long time based on mutual trust.