KT Corp ADR KT

KT's Core Telecom Business Is Solid While it Looks to Cloud and AI for Growth

South Korea has traditionally displayed many of the factors we like in a telecommunications market. On the wireless side, there are only three national operators with their own networks, and they have behaved rationally, particularly over the past four years. On the fixed-line side, competition has been restrained, as there are no major cable operators. However, the regulator can be inconsistent and is too involved in decisions that we think should be left to the market, and the operators have on occasion behaved less rationally. KT is the incumbent fixed-line telecom operator in Korea. The firm is also the largest broadband provider and second-largest wireless telecommunications operator. It has a growing television business and is entering into other businesses, including cloud computing and payment processing.