• At TM Forum’s DTW24 - Ignite, the founding parties of the Global Telco AI Alliance (GTAA) signed  a Joint Venture agreement with the objective of co-developing and launching a multilingual Telco Large Language Model (Telco LLM)
  • The 2nd Global Telco AI Roundtable (GTAR) was also held at TM Forum’s DTW24-Ignite, to present the GTAA’s progress and future plans

Copenhagen, Denmark - SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM, “SKT”), Deutsche Telekom, e&, Singtel and SoftBank Corp., the founding parties of the Global Telco AI Alliance (GTAA), today signed a Joint Venture agreement at TM Forum's DTW24-Ignite. This follows the announcement by the GTAA at MWC Barcelona 2024 to establish a Joint Venture and marks the founding parties’ commitment to co-develop and launch multilingual Large Language Models (Telco LLM) specifically tailored to the needs of telecommunications companies  through the JV.

As  announced earlier this year, the JV will see equal investments from the founding parties to support its initial working capital requirements to develop the Telco LLM that will aim to help telcos improve their customer interactions via digital assistants and other innovative AI solutions. The JV will look at deploying innovative AI applications tailored to the needs of the founding parties in their respective markets, enabling them to reach a global customer base of approximately 1.3 billion across 50 countries. The Telco LLM will be multilingual including; Korean, English, German, Arabic, and Bahasa among other languages. The launch of the JV is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

The second Global Telco AI Roundtable (GTAR) was also held at DTW24, reaffirming the GTAA’s dedication to driving innovation and collaboration in the telecoms industry. The GTAR highlighted the key progress achieved by the GTAA, as well as the AI governance systems and AI use cases reshaping the telecom landscape.

GTAR’s opening speech was delivered by SKT’s CEO Ryu Young-sang, who emphasized on the transformative potential of AI in the telecom industry. CEO Ryu highlighted that the Global Telco AI Alliance is well positioned to be an active player in the global AI ecosystem as businesses worldwide are keen to reshape their business strategies through AI. He added that, through the Telco LLM JV new business opportunities will be created, and enhanced levels of customer experiences will be achieved. Ryu stressed that while heading towards this goal, the Alliance needs to proactively address the social and environmental responsibilities associated with AI by establishing an effective AI governance framework.

The opening address was followed by a panel discussion, which featured the participation of Suk-geun Chung, Chief AI Global Officer, SKT; Harrison Lung, Group Chief Strategy Officer, e&; William Woo, Group Chief Information Officer and Group Chief Digital Officer, Singtel; and Jan Hofmann, Top Program Lead for Artificial Intelligence, Deutsche Telekom. The panelists shared updates on GTAA's progress and outlined plans aimed at using AI in the future to address industry challenges and unlock new opportunities. The panelists also shared their perspective on AI governance and founding parties’ individual efforts to ensure Responsible AI practices.

Founding parties showcased potential applications of an LLM for telco, focusing on contact center and infrastructure use cases. They demonstrated how a fine-tuned LLM can enhance contact center operations by generating real-time reference answers for agents during calls and automatically handling post-call tasks. They also illustrated the model's ability to  provide answers to infrastructure operators' questions, streamlining their workflows.

-Ends-

About SK Telecom

SK Telecom has been leading the growth of the mobile industry since 1984. Now, it is taking customer experience to new heights by extending beyond connectivity. By placing AI at the core of its business, SK Telecom is rapidly transforming into an AI company with a strong global presence. It is focusing on driving innovations in areas of AI Infrastructure, AI Transformation (AIX) and AI Service to deliver greater value for industry, society, and life.

For more information, please contact skt_press@sk.com or visit our LinkedIn page www.linkedin.com/company/sk-telecom.

Media Contacts:
Mina Ryu
SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
mnryu@sk.com

Hyejin Kim
SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
hjchriskim@sk.com

About Deutsche Telekom: www.telekom.com/en/company/companyprofile/company-profile-625808

Media Contact:
E-Mail: medien@telekom.de

About e&

e& is one of the leading technology groups in the world. Boasting impressive financial figures for 2023, with consolidated net revenue reaching a staggering AED 53.8 billion and consolidated net profit surging to AED 10.3 billion, the Group's impeccable credit ratings reflect its strong balance sheet and track record of sustained success. 

Founded in Abu Dhabi over 48 years ago, the Group has a rich legacy as the pioneer in telecommunications in the UAE. Today, its footprint spans 32 countries, including STARZPLAY and Careem Everything app across the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, making it a leading player in the industry.

Innovation is ingrained in e&'s DNA to create an unbreakable bond between communities using cutting-edge digital solutions, smart connectivity and advanced technologies. The Group has designed five strong business pillars that address various customer segments: e& UAE, e& international, e& life, e& enterprise and e& capital. Through these pillars, we strive to revolutionise the way people communicate, work and live by providing unparalleled services and exceptional experiences.

At e&, we are committed to pushing the boundaries of what is possible and delivering measurable results that make a difference in people's lives.

To learn more about e&, please visit: https://eand.com/

Media contact:
Nancy Sudheer
Mediaoffice@eand.com

About Singtel

Singtel is Asia's leading communications technology group, providing a portfolio of services from next-generation communication, 5G and technology services to infotainment to both consumers and businesses. The Group has presence in Asia, Australia and Africa and reaches over 760 million mobile customers in 21 countries. Its infrastructure and technology services for businesses span 21 countries, with more than 428 direct points of presence in 362 cities.

For consumers, Singtel delivers a complete and integrated suite of services, including mobile, broadband and TV. For businesses, Singtel offers a complementary array of workforce mobility solutions, data hosting, cloud, network infrastructure, analytics and cyber security capabilities.

Singtel is dedicated to continuous innovation, harnessing technology to create new and exciting customer experiences and shape a more sustainable, digital future.

For more information, visit www.singtel.com.
Follow us on Twitter / X at @SingtelNews

Media contact:
Malini Nathan
Director, Group Strategic Communications and Brand, Singtel
Email: malini.nathan@singtel.com

About SoftBank Corp. 

Guided by the SoftBank Group’s corporate philosophy, “Information Revolution – Happiness for everyone,” SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) operates telecommunications and IT businesses in Japan and globally. Building on its strong business foundation, SoftBank Corp. is expanding into non-telecom fields in line with its “Beyond Carrier” growth strategy while further growing its telecom business by harnessing the power of 5G/6G, IoT, Digital Twin and Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) solutions, including High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS)-based stratospheric telecommunications. While constructing AI data centers and developing homegrown LLMs specialized for the Japanese language with 1 trillion parameters, SoftBank is applying AI to enhance radio access network performance (AI-RAN) with the aim of becoming a provider of next-generation social infrastructure. To learn more, please visit https://www.softbank.jp/en/

Media contact:
Matthew Nicholson
Corporate Communications Division, SoftBank Corp.
E-mail: sbpr@g.softbank.co.jp