SK Telecom today said its T Map Mobility business has formed a joint venture with Uber Technologies to drive growth in the e-hailing market in Korea.
SK Telecom plans to launch T Map Mobility within this year by splitting off its Mobility Business Unit, which is in charge of services including T Map and T Map Taxi.
T Map is the largest mobility platform in Korea with around 13 million monthly active users. T Map Taxi is the nation’s second largest taxi hailing service with 200,000 registered drivers and 750,000 monthly active users.
T Map provides other mobility services such as T Map Auto, T Map Public Transportation and T Map Parking.
With the establishment of T Map Mobility, SKT will be well-structured to achieve innovation and strengthen competitiveness in the mobility industry. SKT plans to secure funding for T Map Mobility by attracting investment from external investors.
SKT has restructured its business and transformed into a tech company with four business areas: Mobile Communications, Media (SK Broadband, Wavve, Dreamus Company), Security (ADT Caps, SK Infosec) and Commerce (11 Street, SK Stoa). Mobility has become a core business for SKT.
T Map Mobility will focus on four main mobility businesses: T Map-based platform business in areas of parking, advertising and usage-based insurance; T Map Auto services such as in-vehicle infotainment and in-car payment; on-demand mobility services such as taxi-hailing and designated driver services; and all-in-one Mobility as a Service (MaaS).
SKT expects T Map Mobility, valued at approximately KRW 1 trillion, to grow into a company worth KRW 4.5 trillion by 2025.
Uber will invest over USD 100 million in the joint venture. Uber will also invest around USD 50 million in T Map Mobility to strengthen the partnership between SKT and Uber. This will bring Uber’s total investment amount to over USD 150 million.
“Through our partnership with SKT, we will expand access to ride hailing services in the country, and bring better service to riders and drivers,” said Nelson Chai, chief financial officer of Uber.
“Together with Uber, the world’s top mobility platform company, we will turn customer’s time and money spent on mobility into time used for more valuable purposes and realize greater safety for all modes of transportation,” said Park Jung-ho, CEO of SKT.
