SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) today announced the launch of ‘T Phone 2.0,’ an upgraded version of ‘T Phone,’ an integrated dialer platform the company released in January 2014.

T Phone 2.0 took phone call service to the next level by opening up its call-related APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to external services. By simply applying T Phone’s APIs, any mobile application built with the functionality which allows users to dial a number directly from the app can join the T Phone platform.

Popular mobile services namely Zigbang (a real estate rent searching app) and Baedaltong (a food delivery app) are the first two mobile apps to leverage these APIs.

T Phone subscribers who use Zigbang can call a realtor directly from the mobile app upon finding an attractive apartment. Then, the realtor learns which apartment the client is viewing as the information will appear on the mobile screen when receiving an incoming call.

Similarly, users can make a mobile phone call to order food delivery while looking at the menu at the Baedaltong app, which makes the whole ordering process more effective and accurate.

The company plans to add call taxi apps, job search apps, used goods market apps and restaurant apps to the T Phone platform to enable users to benefit from more convenient, accurate and efficient communication.

Moreover, T Phone 2.0 also offers upgraded features to increase user convenience.

In particular, it offers a special ‘sharing’ feature that allows users to view the same document, map, photo or web page while talking to each other on the phone.

Also, in response to the growing demand for a more convenient voice call recording feature for voice calls, T Phone 2.0 offers a new innovative recording feature. For instance, users can designate certain phone numbers in advance to have calls from these numbers recorded at all times; or choose to record all phone calls that come from unknown numbers or strangers.

The company also upgraded T Phone’s Safe Call, a feature that provides information on the caller when the number is not stored in the receiver's phone book. T Phone 2.0 users can evaluate a specific phone number, and have that information appear on his/her mobile phone screen when there is an incoming call from this number. In addition, phone numbers that most users blocked will be labelled as ‘Likely to be spam’ to warn customers.

Moreover, T Phone 2.0 offers other useful features including ‘visual ARS,’ which allows users to select a menu on their smartphone screen after dialing SK Telecom’s customer center, and ‘group texting,’ a feature that enables a member of a group to send text messages to the rest of the group members at once.

“T Phone 2.0 suggests a more efficient form of communication by opening up its call-related APIs,” said Cho Eung-tae, Senior Vice President and Head of Product Planning Office at SK Telecom. “We will continue to open up APIs of each feature of our platform to external services so as to ultimately build a truly open and integrated communication platform that deliver unprecedented value to customers.”

About SK Telecom

SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM, KSE: 017670), established in 1984, is Korea’s largest telecommunications company with more than 28 million mobile subscribers, accounting for around 50% of the market. The company reached KRW 17.164 trillion in revenue in 2014. As the world’s first company to commercialize CDMA, CDMA 2000 1x, CDMA EV-DO and HSDPA networks, SK Telecom launched the nation’s first LTE service in July 2011. SK Telecom also became the world’s first mobile carrier to commercialize 150Mbps LTE-Advanced in June 2013 and 225Mbps LTE-Advanced in June 2014 through Carrier Aggregation(CA). In line with its efforts to swiftly move towards the next-generation mobile network system, or 5G, it successfully commercialized 300Mbps tri-band LTE-A CA. As of the end of March 2015, the company has over 17.4 million LTE and LTE-Advanced subscribers. Based on its strength in network operations business, SK Telecom is seeking new growth engines through three innovative platforms namely Lifestyle Enhancement Platform, Advanced Media Platform and IoT Service Platform. For more information, please visit www.sktelecom.com or email to press@sktelecom.com.