November 28, 2024

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SK Telecom Chief Executive Officer Ryu Young-sang (center) speaks with Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Hoettges (right) at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Monday. (SK Telecom)

South Korean telecommunication giant SK Telecom is launching its metaverse platform ifland in the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia, in cooperation with a number of global telcos, the company said Wednesday.

SKT said it inked separate agreements with Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, US’ T-Mobile, Axiata, which operates in 11 countries in Southeast Asia, and Malaysia’s CelcomDigi on expanding the ifland service, on the sidelines of this year’s Mobile World Congress.

“For the global expansion of ifland, the major telcos in each country are very important partners. We will continue to cooperate with diverse global companies to expand the scope of our metaverse service,” SKT CEO Ryu said.

The latest partnership comes after the Korean company launched ifland in 49 countries across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia in November.

Signing ceremonies were carried out on the sidelines of the world’s largest mobile show on Monday and Tuesday, and key officials, including SK Square Vice President Park Jung-ho, SKT Chief Executive Officer Ryu Young-sang, Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Hoettges, Axiata Group joint acting CEO Vivek Sood and CelcomDigi CEO Datuk Nawawi, were present, SKT said.

SKT said it seeks to expand its service to more users around the world by forging partnerships with the global telcos, with each company having over 100 million subscribers.

SKT will be working with Deutsche Telekom and T-mobile US to run pilot service programs first, aimed at coming up with more diverse metaverse services, the company said.

For instance, SKT will work with Deutsche Telekom to develop new virtual spaces of German cities and avatars for the German market, running a pilot service for three months from the start of the second quarter this year, when the company plans to introduce ifland in German.

With Axiata, SKT has agreed to cooperate on expanding the ifland service to link it with Axiata’s other affiliates, and to explore new business items based on artificial intelligence technology, the company said. Axiata has about 200 million users across South and Southeast Asia, including in Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Bangladesh.

With CelcomDigi, the telcos will seek to introduce the ifland service to more users in Malaysia and seek new business opportunities, SKT said.

SKT said it looks forward to new opportunities for business as it launches the metaverse service in Southeast Asia, where Korean cultural content is popular and well-received.

SKT first launched ifland, a metaverse platform of virtual spaces and avatars, in South Korea in July 2021.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)