LG Uplus shares membership benefits with overseas telecom carriers

[Financial News] LG Uplus will launch a global membership service that can also be used overseas within this year. The company aims to improve subscribers’ overseas experience by offering everyday benefits that local residents use frequently.
According to the industry on the 30th, LG Uplus has completed its membership in the global telecom consortium, the WonderJoy Travel Alliance, and has finished a pilot program in Japan.
Once the official service begins, customers will be able to access a range of partner benefits, including shopping, tourism and transportation, from local telecom carriers in major overseas travel destinations.
The WonderJoy Travel Alliance is the world’s first global telecom cooperation platform that shares benefits held by carriers in each country. Only one carrier per country can join, and the alliance currently includes major Asia-Pacific carriers such as Singtel in Singapore, KDDI CORPORATION in Japan, HKT in Hong Kong, AIS in Thailand, Taiwan Mobile in Taiwan, Globe in the Philippines, Telkomsel in Indonesia and Optus in Australia. LG Uplus has joined as South Korea’s new partner.
LG Uplus decided to join the WonderJoy Travel Alliance to expand its domestic membership service overseas and provide customer value that can be felt throughout the travel experience, beyond simple roaming. Through this, the company plans to build a global membership system that lets customers use shopping, tourism and transportation benefits offered by local telecom carriers even while traveling abroad.
Earlier, LG Uplus ran a pilot service in Japan, where visits by Korean customers are especially high, from June through the end of August. During the pilot period, selected Roaming Pass subscribers who applied through a drawing were offered discount coupons for Don Quijote and Lawson, taxi discounts, a one-day tour of Mount Fuji and discount coupons for Newoman shopping malls.
The pilot generated more than 10,000 coupon downloads over three months. In particular, 9 out of 10 customers who downloaded the coupons actually used the Don Quijote and Lawson discounts. By age group, customers in their 40s accounted for the largest share at 34.8%, followed by those in their 30s at 24.8%, their 50s at 18.6% and their 20s at 15.7%.
In the process of gathering customer feedback, the company identified an inconvenience: when partner benefits were delivered via text message (MMS), it was difficult to find the coupon again at the time of use. Based on this, LG Uplus concluded that providing partner benefits through an app-based service that customers can check anytime would be more effective than sending them individually by text message.
LG Uplus plans to improve the service by reflecting usage data and customer feedback gathered during the pilot, then launch the official service within the year. The WonderJoy Travel Alliance also plans to expand cooperation with a wider range of global operators and review ways to connect with travel-related services such as booking, activities and commerce.
Lim Hye-kyung, who oversees rate plans and products at LG Uplus, said, "By joining the WonderJoy Travel Alliance, we have laid the groundwork for customers to more conveniently access a variety of benefits offered by local telecom carriers overseas." She added, "We will continue to expand global partnerships to strengthen customers’ overseas experience and provide differentiated travel benefits."

[email protected] Jang Min-kwon Reporter