With 94 percent market share in local telecoms services, 46 percent in international services and 51 percent in the broadband market, KT is the dominant telecoms player in Korea. The operator is active
over conventional services, broadband, wireless LAN and Wi-Bro services, which is predicted to be the hottest topic in the Korean market in 2006.

KT had previously been supplied with over 80 AXE switches, as well as three international gateways. KT wanted to evolve its international gateway to all-IP through its existing Ericsson solution in 2004. By
2005, KT required to establish a platform to support next generation services and applications. The operator needed to build the capacity to support VoIP applications, increasing its market reputation,
reliability and interoperability, as well as improving technical support.

Harry Kim, President, Ericsson Korea, explains the benefits of the solution to the customer: “Telephony Softswitch was commercially proven with more than 40 overseas operators. I’m pleased that KT has established its international VoIP service by using Telephony Softswitch for the first time in Korea.”

With its strong installed base in KT’s international network, Ericsson was an obvious choice, in that it had established technical support for the operator’s existing systems, as well as a clear roadmap for
KT in its evolution towards IP telephony and multi-media services. As part of the solution, Ericsson upgraded its existing Telephony Softswitch to 3.1 level, enabling KT to prepare for next generation
services. Ericsson also brought with it high-level IP network design consulting and long-term experience in the IP business arena.

The implemented solution offers KT TDM and IP interfaces with international carriers to exchange international voice and VoIP traffic. KT is now better prepared for a next generation network with
an initial 5,000 VoIP sessions. Its TDM and VoIP networks allow for economies of scale, as well as operational and maintenance savings. With a single platform, flexible network design and flexible
traffic routing are also possibilities.

As a result, KT now benefits from improved network efficiency and flexibility. Chul Kim, Assistant Vice President, International Planning and Management Department, KT, comments on selecting Ericsson
as a preferred business partner: “We are pleased to introduce reliable next generation systems from Ericsson. Since Telephony Softswitch can support TDM and VoIP traffic on a single platform, we expect the system to further strengthen our international VoIP business.”