LG Uplus Vice Chairman Ha Hyun-hoe holds a news conference at LG Uplus headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul, on Dec. 19.

LG Uplus Vice Chairman Ha Hyun-hoe expressed his determination to make 5G telecom services, to be launched early this year, a game changer in the Korean telecom service provider market.

“(LG Uplus) wants to top in the 5G sector,” Vice Chairman Ha said in a meeting with reporters on Dec. 19. Vice Chairman Ha, who once served as vice chairman of LG Corp., the holding company of LG Group, took the helm of LG Uplus last July.

Under the stewardship of Vice Chairman Ha, LG Uplus has two significant tasks ahead – the successful launching of 5G telecom services and the expanding of its presence in the IPTV market through M&As. Ha said, “(LG Uplus) will change B2B businesses such as smart factory and smart city in the 5G sector.” As for LG Uplus’ merger with cable TV, he said it will bring synergetic effects in several areas.

LG Uplus plans to achieve a head start when it comes to the commercialization of 5G telecom slated for March, a strategy to move up its standing from the nation’s third largest telecom service provider.

LG Uplus managed to reverse the difficult situation when it launched 4G (LTE) services. At that time, the telecom service provider was lauded for having built its nationwide 4G telecom service network across the nation in nine months, the shortest period of time among competitors. LG Uplus saw its market share surge from 17.7 percent in July 2011 to 21.2 percent as of the end of last October.

In the case of the 5G sector, he said investments will soar to more than 4 trillion won. If technologies are considered to be industry standards, LG Uplus will have a head start to build an ecosystem and make preparations in advance, he added. As evidenced by having successfully launching 4G services by going nimble and aggressive, LG Uplus has a strategy to take preemptive steps to preoccupy the upcoming 5G market.

Vice Chairman Ha sees B2B businesses as a game changer in the 5G sector.

“B2B businesses will never be done overnight,” said Ha, adding, “smart factories and smart city are businesses that will have to be done over several years.”

He noted that LG Uplus plans to transform the B2B business arenas as fast as possible. The move may be construed as LG Uplus’ determined scheme to make the B2B business area where his rival companies SK Telecom and KT have strengths a game changer. Specifically, Vice Chairman Ha cited a dynamic app for self-driving, to be unveiled this year, logistics robots, and remote monitoring of process management.

Choi Nam-gon, a researcher with Yuanta Securities, said now that telecom service providers may hit a wall in offering 5G services catering to general consumers, so the success of 5G services will depend on how to come up with specific B2B models.

Vice Chairman Ha expressed his determination to be more aggressive in the paid cable broadcasting market. As for the attempt to acquire CJ Hello, he said M&As will be done for the future, and the cable TV sector has many areas to have synergetic effects. A cable TV company can diversify services in collaboration with an IPTV content maker, and big data from the adding of a few million clients will be made available to produce new business models.

Ha ruled out security misgivings over LG Uplus’ using of 5G equipment produced by Huawei. He emphasized flawless security confirmation of all 5G equipment, produced by not only Huawei but also other makers, including Nokia and Samsung Electronics. Huawei now supplies telecommunications equipment to more than 170 countries, but none have so far filed complaints over security issues.

LG Uplus, the nation’s third largest telecom service provider, may attempt to make a game changer in the Korean telecommunications market to come up from behind, as fierce competition over the commercialization of 5G services and acquisition of cable TV companies will bring about tremendous changes this year, industry analysts said.