'Tmap Mobility' Leaving SKT to Launch Tomorrow... Subscription Service to Be Unveiled in 2022

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] "We will bring a new breeze to the mobility ecosystem."

Tmap Mobility, spun off from SK Telecom, will officially launch on the 29th. In 2022, it plans to fully introduce a subscription-based all-in-one service covering car sharing, designated driving, and public transportation.

According to the industry on the 28th, the newly established corporation Tmap Mobility will be located in Centropolis, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Following the SK Telecom Mobility Division and subsidiary employees who applied for the transfer, newly hired experienced staff will sequentially join starting January 1 next year. The CEO is likely to be Lee Jong-ho, head of SK Telecom's Mobility Division.

Leading with Korea's largest navigation service Tmap, Tmap Mobility aims to build Korea's representative 'mobility life platform.' The subscription-based all-in-one service, which offers various transportation modes at discounted subscription rates, will be launched in 2022. To this end, service integration and platform construction work are expected to be intensively carried out next year. The industry also anticipates the launch of services linking the Tmap platform with SK Telecom's T Membership. Tmap Mobility will also challenge the 'Flying Car' that travels between Seoul and Gyeonggi areas within 30 minutes during commuting hours.

The 'mobility super-collaboration' with global ride-sharing company Uber will also be intensified. The joint venture corporation between Tmap Mobility and Uber is expected to be established around April next year. Recently, Uber secured 579 franchise taxis from the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Significant upheaval is also expected in the domestic mobility market, which has been dominated by Kakao Mobility. Starting next year, the so-called 'mobility era of the warring states' will open, and innovative services are expected to be launched one after another. During the launch process of Tmap Mobility, tensions over securing personnel were confirmed both inside and outside the industry. Competition is expected to intensify immediately in business areas such as taxis and designated driving, and the race to secure future technologies will become fierce.

From SK Telecom's perspective, it is meaningful that mobility has been targeted as the core of future new businesses that will become a cash cow at a stage where the mobile communication market has practically reached saturation. SK Telecom plans to grow Tmap Mobility, which will be incorporated as the fifth business division following mobile communications, media, security, and commerce, into a 4.5 trillion KRW scale by 2025.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.