South Korea's three major mobile carriers, SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus, unveiled their ambitious artificial intelligence (AI) strategies during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026 held in Barcelona, recognizing the global shift towards AI-driven business models. SK Telecom, for instance, announced an 'AI-native' innovation strategy aiming to integrate AI into all aspects of their telecommunications services. This includes revamping essential operations such as sales, IT, and line management to be AI-centric, thereby moving from human-dependent to AI-driven network management to enhance efficiency and service quality.

In addition to its integration plans, SK Telecom is developing AI-based technologies like the AI Radio Access Network (AI-RAN), and has committed to collaborating with major tech firms including Nvidia for the enhancement of AI networks. They also revealed plans to establish a substantial foundation model, with an ambitious target of developing models with one trillion parameters, indicating a focus on advanced AI capabilities for complex tasks. This model aims to boost the company's competitive edge in advanced telecommunications technologies as they transition to 6G networks.

Meanwhile, LG Uplus presented its roadmap for 'AI One Team LG,' in collaboration with the LG AI Research Institute, with intentions to develop high-performance foundation models during the ongoing foundation model period. They also hinted at the upcoming release of 'ExaOne 4.5,' a vision-language model being jointly developed with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), which aims to adeptly understand and analyze complex visual and textual data. These advancements position South Korea's telecom sector as a pivotal player in the global AI landscape as they embrace radical technological transformations to remain competitive.