KT Corporation (NYSE:KT) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

So however, I would just like to highlight that for KT, we are not really interested in low-end bidding projects that generate less than KRW1,000 per month in revenue, just to secure millions of lines at once which — this is mainly happening in the IoT remote control device segment. So as a company, we are focused on profitability, the scalability of projects, technological innovation and the possibility to build new ecosystems. And so we would not sacrifice these elements just to secure more volume growth. We have been maintaining the gap on the areas of actual human subscribers, wearable devices and second devices. And we have been always concentrating on enhancing customer value to generate high-quality revenue and profits. And as a result of these efforts, in terms of 5G penetration and ARPU which are the main quality indicators of a telco company, we maintain the gap against our competitors.

As the 5G market enters maturity, the growth momentum can slow down in the future. We will maintain our MNO service competitiveness by encouraging our LTE subscribers to change into 5G plans and to ensure that the high-end customers maintain their first tier plans and to ensure that our 5G customers will be satisfied with new 5G plans so that they can generate higher ARPU for the company. We are also focusing on new value-adding services to further enhance customer satisfaction. And even in the MVNO market, we will be targeting the market by different segments to enhance overall customer satisfaction and we will also work to secure high ARPU customers so that the MVNO business can also continue the growth of the wireless business. We will make utmost effort to ensure that we can continue the robust growth of our telco and wireless business as expected by our investors by focusing on the fundamentals of our business and also continuing to make effort to enhance customer value.

Seung-Hoon Chi: Next question, please.

Operator: The following question will be presented by [indiscernible].

Unidentified Analyst: My name is Jae-min [ph] from Investment Securities. I have 2 questions. First, the new CEO has been appointed to KT. I don’t think there has been a lot of communication regarding the new CEO’s business strategy and direction. So, can you give us some more color on that? And also, does the company have plans to encourage communication between the CEO and the market in the future? Second question is regarding the B2B business. KT is very strong in this market. I would like to know more about the strategy that you have and also the outlook that you foresee for the B2B market.

Young-Jin Kim: Thank you for those questions, Mr. Ahn. So, I would like to answer your first question. So, KT’s large group direction is to make sure that the IT — fundamental IT capabilities generate quality growth in the B2B market, sustainable profits in the B2C market and also to ensure that AI will serve as a foundation to encourage and trigger innovation and growth of overall KT. This is the main strategy of our CEO. To go into more detail. The B2B, we will be focusing on selective concentration based on IT capabilities so that we can generate both revenue and profit growth. In the B2C segment, we will be focusing on launching customized services and also new services to satisfy customers so that the B2C business can serve as a cash cow for the company.

And as for leveraging AI, we will be using AI to develop new profit-generating business models. At the same time, we will be using AI to come up with differentiated services and also to boost the overall productivity of the company. And you also asked about the opportunities for communicating with the market. So, we are currently developing the mid-term strategy of the company. And once those strategies crystallize, I think we will have an opportunity for our CEO to meet with market persistence. And I think that timing will be around early next year. And you also asked about the B2B market. So, KT has the widest and most extensive coverage in both wireless and fixed markets. We have a sales force that can reach out to the individual customers and to the various office buildings throughout Korea.