BUSAN < invest Korea

According to Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea,

China’s leading bike-sharing start-up Ofo will launch similar service in Korea on the back of fixed and mobile telecom company KT and Korean financial institutions.

KT said on Wednesday it signed a partnership contract with China’s Ofo, Korea’s Shinhan Card and NHN KCP, a payment gateway provider, in Seoul to cooperate in the new business. Its service will enable users locate the nearest bicycle offered for share in real time with smartphone apps and drop it off anywhere.

Ofo is a Beijing-based bicycle sharing company founded in 2014. It runs over 10 million yellow bicycles across 250 cities in 20 countries. It started a trial service in Korea at the southern coastal city of Busan.

The partnership will allow Ofo to use KT’s network and infrastructure, develop a smart lock based on Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) technologies, and join forces in marketing activities. Shinhan Card will provide the sharing service platform on its mobile application Shinhan FAN, while NHN KCP builds its payment gateway platform to give users various payment options like credit cards, online banking and mobile payments.

“Our service combining KT’s big data with Ofo’s bike-sharing business knowhow will also help to improve air quality,” said an official at KT.

The bike-sharing service is promoted as an eco-friendly program to reduce traffic. The city of Seoul currently runs dock service Seoul Bike Ttareungyi.

By Seo Dong-cheol and Lee Ha-yeon

Copyrights Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea. All Rights Reserved.

Source: Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea (Apr. 04, 2018)