Baekgun Bae and CEOs of Three Major Mobile Carriers Meet for Second Time: "In the AI Era, Telecom Companies Are AI Infrastructure and Platform Businesses"

Discussion on Advancing AI Network Infrastructure
and Measures to Stabilize Daily Life

On the morning of July 23, 2026, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Baekgun Bae met with the CEOs of Korea’s three major mobile carriers—SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus—at the SK Telecom headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, to discuss advanced network development and measures to stabilize everyday life in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).

Yoon Young Park, CEO of KT (from the left), Beom-sik Hong, CEO of LG Uplus, Background-hoon Bae, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, and Jaeheon Jung, CEO of SK Telecom, are taking a commemorative photo at the Deputy Prime Minister and Telecom CEOs meeting held on July 23, 2026, at SKT Tower in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yongjun Cho

In his opening remarks, Deputy Prime Minister Bae emphasized that telecommunications companies are now evolving beyond network providers to become AI infrastructure and platform businesses, connecting everyday life and industrial sites through AI. He also reviewed the progress of agreements reached at their previous meeting in April. To ensure universal communication rights, he confirmed that “Safe Data Options” are being expanded; rate plans are being revamped, including additional voice and text services for senior citizens; and priority emergency transmission with the National Fire Agency has been implemented in phases since June. He also confirmed the status of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) council, established to strengthen security capabilities of the three carriers, as well as ongoing upgrades to subway Wi-Fi networks.

The three mobile carriers expressed their commitment to investing in the advancement of next-generation networks. SK Telecom presented its vision for future network evolution, such as 6G deployment and intelligent base stations (AI-RAN), and for strengthening AI competitiveness. KT shared plans to increase undersea cable capacity, diversify terrestrial cable landing points, and secure competitiveness in low earth orbit satellite networks. LG Uplus outlined its plans to establish standalone 5G networks by the end of the year and implement AI-based autonomous network operations. The government intends to launch a public-private consultative body in August, in partnership with the three carriers, to comprehensively discuss network investments and telecommunications regulatory reforms.

The three telecommunications firms also agreed to announce measures by the end of July to strengthen customer benefits and stabilize daily living. These measures will include expanding membership and partnership discounts in areas closely related to everyday life, as well as offering additional benefits in rate plans targeted at young people and disadvantaged groups. To promote the sustainable development of the telecom industry ecosystem, the carriers pledged to foster a healthy distribution environment by discouraging aggressive marketing for premium rate plans and to continue improving wholesale pricing.

Deputy Prime Minister Bae stated, “Let the government and the telecommunications industry work together to advance AI-native network infrastructure and ensure that every citizen can benefit from communication, the internet, and AI. By doing so, we can build an ‘irreplaceable Korea’ together.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.