KT Corp., struggling to regain momentum amid a rapidly saturating mobile market, on Friday signed up with Lyon to export its smart technology to the French city.

"It is a great opportunity for us to reinforce our European presence by starting collaboration with metropolises. The deal with Lyon is a starting point for our smart city strategy," said Bahk Jun-sick who leads KT Global Business Unit.

Earlier, KT held a meeting with the Lyon mayor Gerard Collomb at its Gwanghwamun headquarters to sign a letter of intent on the deal.

The two sides agreed on how KT can contribute to the smart train station renovation project of the Part-Dieu, a massive urban re-development project of the city.

“If the collaboration with KT is successful it could be expanded into other projects such as the Chemical Valley or the Festival of Lights,” said the mayor. The Part-Dieu project includes renovating the train station, shopping centers, offices and building new ones. 

The project is scheduled to be completed by 2024.

The collaboration between KT and Lyon also will likely include fields including smart energy, mobility and new digital features, according to KT and the city.

The deal came following the first memorandum of agreement for the smart community project on December 2011 with Japan’s New Energy and industrial technology Development Organization, Japan’s public agency responsible for supporting innovation under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Japan’s NEDO promised to support innovation, research and development into new energies and environmental and industrial technologies, funding 50 million euros in the project.

Some of Lyon’s partners for the project include tech giant Toshiba, Bouygues Immobilier, French mobile carrier, and car makers Peugeot and Mitsubishi Motors.

The city mayor said “the city will develop a leading territory in Europe by installing smart grids with traffic prediction and real time GPS systems in urban areas.”

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