SK Telecom announced on the 28th that it created a social value of 2.7949 trillion won in 2023, marking an impressive 12.1% (302.2 billion won) increase compared to 2.4927 trillion won in 2022.
Since 2018, SK Telecom has been quantifying the social value created through various corporate management activities, including product/service development, fair operations, human resource management, partnerships, and social contribution activities.
SK Telecom aims to enhance transparency and communication with stakeholders by publicly disclosing the measurement formulas for the key product/service area indicators in its newsroom.
The social value creation results for SK Telecom in 2023 are as follows: the ‘Economic Contribution Performance’ improved by 5.6% (108.5 billion won) to 2.0362 trillion won, while ‘Environmental Performance’ decreased by 6.2% (6.9 billion won) to -118.0 billion won, and ‘Social Performance’ soared by 29.7% (200.6 billion won) to 876.7 billion won.
The ‘Economic Contribution Performance’ reached over 2 trillion won for the first time since measurements began, largely thanks to robust business results.
Despite continuous investments in infrastructure to meet market demand, SK Telecom has actively expanded efforts in energy efficiency and renewable energy to minimize increases in greenhouse gas emissions.
Through initiatives like the integration and upgrade of 3G and LTE network equipment using Single Radio Access Network, AI-based network design, and low-power cooling systems, SK Telecom seeks to enhance its environmental performance.
The ‘Social Performance’, which saw the highest growth rate compared to the previous year in 2023, encompasses products/services, labor, co-prosperity, and social contribution performance. Its success is rooted in the contributions of AI and ICT technology/infrastructure-based products/services aimed at addressing social issues, such as crime prevention, care for vulnerable populations, and building social safety nets.
This significant growth in ‘Social Performance’ was driven by several initiatives, including enhanced voice phishing prevention services like blocking fraudulent international roaming calls, expansion of AI speaker and AI Call services for elderly isolation care, and the increase in users of the smart blood donation app ‘Red Connect’.
Notably, the newly introduced ‘fraudulent roaming call blocking’ feature was developed to combat increasingly sophisticated and diverse voice phishing crimes. It identifies international call attempts from scammers who manipulate their calling numbers to appear as relatives or friends, blocking these calls if the legitimate subscriber is located in South Korea, thereby helping prevent potential voice phishing attacks.
Additionally, the AI Care service, a unified caregiving service based on AI speakers, has been operational in more than 110 local governments and institutions since April 2019, serving about 20,000 households. It has achieved remarkable success in rescuing over 906 elderly individuals living alone through emergency SOS services linked with the fire department up to April of this year.
Moreover, to ensure the safety of the elderly and prevent lonely deaths, SK Telecom provides an AI consultation-based ‘AI Call’ service for 150,000 individuals across the country. This year, it plans to enhance this service to facilitate more friendly and natural conversations through the implementation of an ESG Large Language Model (LLM).
In collaboration with the Korean Red Cross, SK Telecom developed the official blood donation application ‘Red Connect’, which offers health management services for donors and the ability to check donated blood records, thus contributing to increased re-donation rates.
Since its launch in 2019, the user base has steadily grown, with over 210,000 participants engaging in blood donation activities using Red Connect in 2023.
Yong-joo Park, head of ESG at SK Telecom, stated, “We will continue to advance AI-driven ESG practices optimally suited for an AI company, creating social value and promoting sustainable growth through the expansion of eco-friendly solutions integrated with AI (E), strengthening social value creation based on AI (S), and enhancing AI governance (G).”
Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr