KT chairman Lee Suk-chae urged global telecommunications firms to swiftly jockey for the position in the virtual goods marketplace.

Delivering a keynote speech at the Mobile Asia Expo 2013 in Shanghai on Wednesday, the head of the nation’s leading mobile carrier said there is no future if they only cling to services they are providing now.

Telecoms should jump into the global market for distribution of virtual goods as early as possible to keep up with the fast-changing market trends, he added.

According to Lee, the importance and value of the traditional communications business will further decline while virtual goods projects that sell for a fee in the marketplace like digital content, applications, IT solutions and e-learning are becoming more important.

He noted, for example, how KT’s voice revenue ― mobile and fixed ― declined from $8.1 billion in 2008 to $5.8 billion last year.

As more and more people use smartphones and the Internet, he said, there is a massive opportunity in virtual goods, including apps, services and digital versions of physical goods. “We must be a producer of virtual goods or be an enabler of them,” said Lee.

Along with Lee, China Mobile chairman Guohua Xi and Telstra’s CEO David Thodey took the podium to deliver keynote speeches.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)