Interview with Han Won-sik, CEO of KT set

"3, 2, 1"

May 5, early morning (Korean time), French Guiana of South America. Mugunghwa Satellite No. 7 flew off the ground vigorously in line with the countdown. It is Korea`s fourth broadcasting communication satellite to float space after existing Mugunghwa No. 5, No. 6, and Condosat (Co-satellite) Korea sat No 8. Mugunghwa No. 7, which is heading to space after loading the Arian 5 rocket, will enter service on May 16, and will provide full-scale service from July.

The successful launch of Mugunghwa No. 7 is meaningful for expanding Korea`s global satellite territory. If the service area of the existing satellite is mainly limited to the Korean Peninsula, Mugunghwa No. 7 can provide services not only in Korea but also in the Philippines, Indonesia, Indochina and India. It is literally the first step in the global satellite market.

On the 28th of last month, we met with Han Won-sik, CEO of KT Sat, who has been busy of preparing to depart for Mugunghwa No. 7 launch. KT sat, which was separated from KT in 2012, is Korea`s only satellite operator. CEO Han said confidently, "This is the first time Mugunghwa No. 7 is doing global business with our satellites. We will be the top 7 in the global satellite market in the future."


Currently, the global satellite market is about KRW 10 trillion. Although, the number of satellite operators is more than 30, the top five companies account for about 70% of total sales. KT Sat is ranked 18th (about KRW 140 billion last year) among these sales. Sales should reach KRW 300 billion to be in seventh place. The company plans to achieve sales of KRW 200 billion by 2020 through Mugunghwa No. 7 and Mugunghwa 5A, which will be launched in the second half of this year. Mugunghwa No. 7 already has potential customers in pre-sales before launch. CEO Han said with confidence, "In the world market, we have just begun to walk but we are small strong company."

Mugunghwa No. 7 is a long-term project that has been prepared for the past three years, but there have been many twists and turns until its launch. In March, as soon as he took office as the CEO of KT Sat, Mr. Han visited Guiana and made a movie like `escape from the mortal`. Guiana is a place where the Guiana Space Centre of France is located and is famous for the stage of the movie "Papillon". The problem is that on the day he arrived a general strike took place in Guiana. In the process, some demonstrators occupied the Guiana Space Center and rallied. Not only was the launch postponed, but CEO himself had no choice but to wait. Even when protesters approached the hotel to catch the hostages, they ran out of bumpy military transport helicopters. CEO Han said, "Although I am laughing now, it was a panic at the time. There are a lot of things I cannot do without weather conditions and launch environment."

A representative KT Man, Mr. Han is a Ph.D of semiconductor physics at a graduate school in Paris, France. That is why he was able to communicate smoothly with Arian Space, a French space launcher that launched Mugunghwa No. 7. We asked him about his impression of the month he took office, and he came out with his staff as if he had waited the question. "The level of staff is very high," he said. "There are a lot of companies that only relocate satellites, but KT sat is controlling the satellites, including direct orbit adjustment." He also added, "In the global market (with KT sat`s competitiveness), we are looking for good quality, excellent technology, and quickness of combining new technologies as it started with telecom company."

Mr. Han plans to accelerate the global market target with the launch of Mugunghwa No.7. The company is considering making the satellite service sales hub in the Mugunghwa No. 7 coverage area as there are limits to existing local offices. He said, "Customers do not simply lease satellites, but they want overall services such as management, installation, and equipment deployment.

By Jung Yoon Hee yuni@


[ copyright ⓒ The Digitaltimes ]