South Korean mobile carriers need to develop a range of artificial intelligence services as new revenue sources before commercializing sixth-generation, or 6G, networks, an industry expert said.
Lee Jong-kwan, chief expert adviser at law firm Shin & Kim, made the remarks on the 17th as the lead presenter at a regular seminar hosted by Korea University's Center for Technology Law and Policy at the Press Center in central Seoul, pointing to deteriorating profitability as a pressing issue for the telecom industry. "Unlike large language models, physical AI tends to occupy networks for extended periods," Lee said, adding that services requiring high precision and ultra-low latency, such as those in smart factories, need to be provided as specialized services rather than as ordinary telecom offerings. Carriers should roll out AI services differentiated by speed, latency and quality on the back of faster networks, Lee argued.
Kim Min-ki, a professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) who joined as a panelist, also noted that "in the information and communications technology environment, there is a problem that rising traffic does not translate into higher revenue for carriers." Kim suggested that carriers "need to consider revenue models that take into account new economic actors such as AI agents, moving away from pricing models centered on lines or subscribers." Kim added that carriers could take the lead in providing AI transformation services that combine local networks with security infrastructure in areas such as finance, hospitals and smart cities. Lee Sung-yup, a professor at Korea University, said the paradigm of the telecom industry will fundamentally change with the shift to AI transformation and 6G.
KT said innovation is needed to sustain investment in digital infrastructure. Suh Eun-il, an executive at KT, stressed that the industry "must evolve so that operators can create innovation and share costs reasonably," adding that "this is the time to consider how network competitiveness can lead to industrial competitiveness."
