Moving beyond LTE and Korea

Best Mobile Carrier	SK Telecom
Last year's winner:	SK Telecom
Business segments:	B2C (mobile voice/data, content platform services, converged internet services), B2B (enterprise, telematics, payments)
Chairman & CEO:	Ha Sung-min
Key stats:	Revenue of 16.3 trillion won ($15 billion), up 2.3% (FY12); net income of 1.1 trillion won ($1 billion), down 29.5%; 26.9 million total subscribers

SK Telecom continues to build on its market position and was the first South Korean operator to launch LTE service that now covers 99% of the nation's population.

The company has been a pioneer in the commercialization of many LTE network technologies, including multi-carrier, LTE femtocell and nationwide VoLTE.

Building on these initiatives, it now is focusing on LTE-Advanced technologies and has conducted field tests and plans to launch LTE-Advanced service in September.

Another initiative is to create new growth engines by combining ICT with other industries such as healthcare and media, and is actively promoting them through close collaboration with various partners.

"SK Telecom is continually upgrading its network quality through technologies such as LTE femtocells and multi-carrier to accommodate increasing data traffic," said Youn Jong-pil, head of SK Telecom's Convergence Tech Lab.

SK Telecom is also offering various multimedia services such as live baseball broadcasts and mobile IPTV service to maximize the data experience of customers. The company has developed price plans and customer-oriented programs such as "LTE Sharable Data" plans and "LTE Data Gift Program".

In addition, the carrier is focusing on developing Internet of Things (IoT) business models to enhance the user experience in data services. "To this end, the company is actively creating a total IoT platform while developing sophisticated technologies including in-door positioning technology," said Youn.