SK Telecom said on March 29 it held a customer visit event on March 27 to mark its 42nd anniversary and its founding day on March 29.

About 80 people, including CEO Jung Jae-heon (정재헌), all executives and members of the Customer Trust Committee, visited mobile services, customer centres, retail outlets, airport roaming centres and welfare facilities for the visually impaired to hear customer complaints.

Jung, appointed on March 26, made his first move by visiting Gwanin Senior College in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, on March 27 and meeting about 50 senior customers. The company provided digital safety training to prevent voice phishing and smishing for customers who find it difficult to visit retail outlets. It also checked phones and offered consultations on telecom services.

At the site, staff provided guidance on spam blocking and how to optimise smartphones. Elderly customers raised inconveniences such as exposure to shopping advertisements and delays in downloading messaging apps. Jung checked customers’ smartphones and exchanged views on improvement measures.

Park Jae-kyung (박재경), head of Gwanin Senior College, said, "Some elderly people do not answer calls because they are afraid of voice phishing," adding, "After hearing the explanation, I think they will be able to use their phones with peace of mind." Customer Kwon Hwa-ja (권화자), who attended the training, said, "I learned how people get scammed by calls or texts, and the explanation of phone functions was also helpful."

SK Telecom employees visited senior customers living in Gwanin-myeon in Pocheon, Jungni-dong in Icheon, and Yangpyeong-eup in Yangpyeong County, providing telecom consultation services and digital safety training.

Executives who visited customer centres listened to customer inquiries with counsellors and discussed directions for improvement. At retail outlets and airport roaming centres, they communicated with customers and heard difficulties on the ground. At Siloam Welfare Center for the Blind in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, they checked smartphone accessibility.

SK Telecom said it plans to compile customer feedback gathered on site and reflect it in its decision-making process. It will also run efforts in parallel, including hearing opinions from its customer advisory group, communicating with external experts and analysing customer feedback based on artificial intelligence.

Jung said, "The value that must not change even in the AI era is the customer," adding, "We will not stop at listening to customers’ voices, and will carry out actions so it leads to changes that customers can feel."