South Korea’s SK Telecom is attempting to rebuild its reputation with customers by establishing a new customer experience unit, restructuring its approach with expanded in-person services and investing in AI data governance.
The telecom operator aims to place trust and accessibility at the center of its strategy after a security breach last year resulted in an exodus of around 800,000 mobile subscribers.
In April 2025, SK Telecom disclosed that hackers had infiltrated its core network systems using malware, compromising sensitive USIM (SIM card) data belonging to around 23 million subscribers. The breach involved unauthorized access to the company’s Home Subscriber Server, which is critical infrastructure used for authentication, raising risks such as SIM cloning, identity theft, and the interception of one-time passwords.
An investigation later found that attackers had maintained access to the company’s systems for an extended period and that security gaps and delayed reporting contributed to the scale of the incident. South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) fined the telco a record ₩134.8BN ($93.17MN) in August as a result.
How SK Telecom Is Turning a Cyberattack Into a CX Overhaul
At a March 18 briefing in Seoul, the telco outlined a broad CX transformation, reflecting a pattern among the country’s telecoms providers responding to security incidents by tightening the connection between customer insights, operational design, and trust-building initiatives.
The company has already implemented technical and security countermeasures and it’s now shifting focus toward embedding trust into everyday customer interactions.
Lee Hye-yeon, Head of the Customer Value Innovation Office at SK Telecom, stated that “customer trust is the reason for SKT’s existence,” adding that:
“This year, we will significantly expand field-oriented communication with customers to properly understand them and reflect those insights in all touchpoint channels, products, and services.”
The new CX unit sits within this office and is tasked with capturing customer needs across channels, translating them into service improvements, and defining longer-term customer value strategies. This aligns with a broader industry trend where CX functions are evolving from support roles into strategic hubs influencing product, policy, and governance.
Key to the initiative is the expansion of SK Telecom’s Visiting Service, which combines device support, security education, AI consultation, and after-sales services, effectively bringing the service center directly to the customer.
The company plans to roll out the service across 71 counties, prioritizing regions with higher elderly populations.
The program positions physical outreach as a critical channel to build trust with customers, particularly for digitally vulnerable groups who may be disproportionately affected by data breaches.
SKT is also tailoring its CX strategy to customer segments including long-term subscribers, younger demographics, and students. Initiatives range from dedicated support channels for customers who have held accounts for more than 40 years to partnerships with university groups and youth-focused AI and security workshops.
The company is reinforcing structured feedback collection through its Customer Advisory Group and Customer Trust Committee, integrating customer and external expert perspectives into decision-making.
Alongside its CX overhaul, SK Telecom is developing an AI data curation system designed to refine and classify customer data for service improvement while maintaining privacy protections. The company stated:
“Through this, it is expected that the company will be able to safely protect customers’ personal information while simultaneously exploring directions for improving products and services.”
Balancing more personalized, AI-driven experiences while addressing heightened scrutiny around data handling following security breaches has become central to rebuilding credibility for companies under scrutiny in South Korea following high-profile security failures.
Outside the telecom sector, ecommerce giant Coupang has also faced customer losses and government investigations following a massive data breach affecting around 33.7 million customers.
Building a Customer-Centric Culture Across Operations
Beyond structural and technological changes, SKT is pushing for cultural transformation. Executives and employees will increase visits to frontline touchpoints. The company added:
“[W]e plan to create a corporate culture that drives change and innovation by placing the ‘customer’ at the center of all activities across the company, such as by having new employees carry out projects to contemplate and solve problems faced by customers in the field as part of their training.”
This internal focus indicates that company executives recognize sustainable improvement in customer relationships depends on enterprise-wide alignment as much as new systems or programs.
Rather than treating breaches solely as IT or compliance failures, companies are increasingly using them as catalysts to redesign how they serve customers.
As cybersecurity breaches become more frequent and extensive, recovering customer trust depends on visible, continuous engagement, supported by operational transparency and meaningful changes to customer service. The effectiveness of SK Telecom’s strategy will likely be measured by its ability to convert post-breach accountability into long-term customer confidence.
