LG Uplus Dives into Freight Logistics, Challenges SK Telecom, KT with New Platform

LG Uplus Corp. is entering the freight logistics arena with a new platform service. It is positioning itself as a contender against telecom rivals SK Telecom and KT in South Korea's logistics sector.

LG Uplus hopes to get its cut from the $27 billion middle-mile delivery market in South Korea via a truck brokerage platform. Moreover, introducing its logistics platform aims to transform the logistics sector in its home country.

LG Uplus' New Growth Engine

The nation's No. 3 mobile service provider will roll out a platform service that it believes will change the domestic logistics business. LG Uplus is also seeing this new portfolio addition as one of its new growth engines. The company has been searching for a new business to drive profits as the telecom market is already heavily saturated.

The Korea Economic Daily reported that the logistics platform is designed for truck delivery brokerages. The main target is the middle-mile logistics that mainly transport and deliver products from a distribution hub to fulfillment warehouses or facilities of retailers. Once delivered, the logistics have entered the last-mile delivery stage, where the goods are sold to the consumers.

The Freight It-Go Platform Service

The new logistics platform service that will digitalize a delivery truck dispatch system was named "Freight it-go." It is set to be unveiled later this month, with no exact date mentioned yet.

With LG Uplus' new service, the company will link up for-hire carriers and freight brokers within the hub-to-hub delivery circle. As per Korea Joongang Daily, once a broker registers a shipment order on the Freight it-go website, carrier companies can check and pick an order they want through an app. They may choose an order according to the location and size of cargo that they can accommodate.

The service is said to be a first in the logistics industry's navigation system for delivery trucks. It will also offer real-time transport control and a performance and payments system to make all the transactions fast and simple.

"Before, freight brokers and carriers would have to communicate every order via a phone call, and organize every one of them through an excel file," LG Uplus' vice president of smart mobility business, Kang Jong Oh, said during a press event for the launch announcement. "Utilizing the platform will drastically shorten that process."

Photo by: LG UPlus Website