Greetings from the three mobile carriers at the end of November… Focus on AI speed battle
Publication date: 2024-10-27 14:29
The mobile carrier will begin full-scale executive reshuffle and organizational reorganization from the end of November. The prevailing view is that the CEOs of the three telecommunication companies, who focused on laying the foundation as an artificial intelligence (AI) company this year, are likely to continue their terms next year.
According to the telecommunications industry on the 27th, considering the past reorganization schedule and group company trends, executive personnel appointments at SK Telecom and KT are expected to take place sequentially, starting with LG U+ at the end of November.
Hwang Hyun-sik, CEO of LG U+
LG U+ is expected to be the first to undergo organizational reorganization at the end of November according to LG Group’s personnel schedule. The official term of office for CEO Hwang Hyun-sik, approved at the general shareholders’ meeting in March this year, is three years until March 2027. This year, CEO Hwang introduced ‘Exigen’, which is an application of LG AI Research Institute’s ultra-large AI ExaOne, and laid the foundation for its application to wired and wireless customer services. Observations inside and outside the industry are that if there are no special variables after the LG Group business report meeting starting this week, it is highly likely that CEO Hwang will take the helm next year. Organizational reorganization is expected to strengthen AI service applications.
Yoo Young-sang, CEO of SK Telecom
Considering SK Group’s personnel schedule, SK Telecom is also likely to be scheduled for late November to early December. The official term of office for CEO Yoo Young-sang, approved at the general shareholders’ meeting in March, is also three years until March 2027. CEO Yoo declared the transition to a global AI company this year. We established AI alliances with global companies such as Entropic and Perplexity, and achieved stable performance based on the stability of our communications business and the growth of new businesses. There is a prevailing view that the reorganization will be carried out in the direction of streamlining the organization and strengthening execution capabilities so that CEO Yoo can continue to lead SK Telecom and continue its achievements next year. However, those inside and outside the company predict that it will be difficult for SK Telecom to avoid the trend of reducing executives by 20% due to SK Group’s ‘rebalancing’.
Kim Young-seop, CEO of KT
There is speculation that KT is also trying to expedite its reorganization as much as possible. It is expected that the reorganization will be completed last among the three companies due to personnel realignment. However, CEO Kim Young-seop has already completed the organizational plan, and the reorganization is expected to take place between late November and early December. KT plans to complete decisions on personnel transferred to KT P&M and KT OSP by early November. As KT is not an affiliate of a specific group, CEO Kim Young-seop is guaranteed a stable term of office until March 2026 through the board of directors. CEO Kim is expected to reorganize the organization in a way that increases execution ability in cooperation with Microsoft (MS).
An official in the telecommunications industry said, “The three telecommunication companies focused on laying the foundation for the AI business this year,” and added, “A reorganization is now expected to strengthen execution capabilities and profits.”
Reporter Park Ji-seong jisung@etnews.com
