Kakao Mobility Acquires Top Phone Call Service '1577 Daeri Unjeon'

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Kakao Mobility is entering the phone call dispatch market together with the number one designated driver service '1577 Daeriunjeon'.

According to the IT industry on the 1st, CMNP, a subsidiary of Kakao Mobility, established a new corporation 'K Drive' with Korea Drive, which operates 1577 Daeriunjeon. From this day, the business transfer to the newly established corporation begins.

The CEO of K Drive is Lee Chang-min, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Kakao Mobility. A Kakao Mobility official explained, "It is not a 100% acquisition, but CMNP and Korea Drive have come together to invest some shares in the new corporation," adding, "Kim Dong-geun, CEO of Korea Drive, will also continue to participate in the management of 1577 to support the effort."

Kakao Mobility is expected to incorporate phone calls into the platform through the new corporation. Although Kakao Mobility entered the designated driver market in 2016, more than 80% of the designated driver market still consists of phone call dispatches. In the case of Tada, they also ventured into the designated driver business but eventually shut down the service due to prolonged COVID-19 and the dominance of the call market, which made digital transformation difficult.

Kakao Mobility recently launched 'Kakao T Phone Call'. This service connects some phone dispatch calls to Kakao T designated driver agents or allows 1577 designated drivers to receive calls through the Kakao T app.

A Kakao Mobility official said, "Currently, phone designated driver companies struggling due to prolonged COVID-19 want to share calls between companies on various platforms to increase call processing rates," adding, "Kakao T designated driver will also support building various win-win models."

Meanwhile, existing designated driver companies are opposing Kakao Mobility's business expansion, calling it a 'market invasion' by a large corporation. Previously, the Korea Designated Driver Federation applied to the Fair Trade Commission to designate the designated driver business as a small and medium-sized enterprise suitable industry.

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