After 4 years of providing LTE service, LG U+ presented the world's first integrated video streaming service ‘LTE Video Portal' and a new IoT solution 'Home IoT Service' at a press conference held at its Yongsan headquarters on the 29th.
At the conference, LG U+ Vice President Sang- chul Lee revealed his ambitious plans, stating:
"With LTE Video Portal, LG U+ will lead the real video era where every part of your life is related to video"
"We will position ourselves as the global IoT market leader by 2020, making the world a hyper-connected society"
He stressed, "Video will become the next generation's voice. An era, where video replaces everything else, has arrived. So, the LTE Video Portal certainly is an innovative, customized service that will serve the era, allowing users to access all video content across the world.
He also noted, "IoT can be classified into four categories - Personal, Home, Industrial and Public. Regardless of the category, all information is stored in cloud so that users can be served any time. The key factors in home service are safety, energy and cost."
LTE Video Portal (World's first mobile ‘LTE Video Portal)
The LTE Video Portal is the latest service by LG U+ that allows you to enjoy various popular, interesting or informative video content from all around the world with just a few clicks.
What makes this service the world's first of this kind is that it offers one place filled with a variety of video content that viewers of all ages might want, from TV shows to movies and even UCC, and more. LG U+ combined its two previous services, 'U+HDTV' (available at KRW5,000 per month)' and 'U flix Movie (KRW7,000 per month)', with a new service 'Premium Knowledge Pack' (KRW5,000 per month) featuring over 30,000 VOD titles, into this new service.
Current U+ HDTV subscribers can stay as LTE Video Portal members, and even subscribers to other operators are welcome to join. LG U+ also launched a free video data plan called 'Subway Video Free'. In addition to 1 GB of data a day for ideo streaming provided by its video data usage-based billing plans, the company will offer an additional 1 GB of data at no extra cost when used on a subway.
There will be a special promotion 'Upload Data Free' until the end of the year offering unlimited data upload from any U+ service for free.
Home IoT (IoT Hub and IoT@Home App)
In July, LT U+ is planning to introduce six new home IoT-based services such as light switches, power outlets, energy meters, heating and cooling control, opening detection sensors, and door locks, along with Gaslock and Momca, the two services showcased earlier this year.
For this, UG U+ also presented a dongle-type 'IoT Hub', which would connect all IoT-based appliances at home by using Z-Wave, its new wireless communication solution. Those who are currently subscribing to LG U+ WiFi (around 2 million users) can easily make their home IoT ready by simply plugging in the IoT Hub to their WiFi devices.
Along with the IoT Hub, the company also introduced ‘IoT@home’, a smart application that lets you control various home IoT services and devices, all on your cellphone. The app is available for download in any app market.
These IoT services all feature voice command for the first time in Korea. And anyone, regardless of their operators, can subscribe to the services. Also, LG U+ announced two new data plans: 'IoT unlimited data' and 'One By One'. The IoT unlimited data plan comes with five key IoT devices (at discounted price) and lets you use IoT service on the devices at KRW11,000 per month (3-year commitment), regardless of the number of devices to connect.
The 'One By One' plan allows you to use a first IoT device at KRW11,000 per month (3-year commitment), and charges an additional fee of KRW1,000 per month for each additional device.
This plan offers no special discount for device purchase. The company plans to boost customer satisfaction, by exclusively offering a full range of service from installation to after-sales service.