South Korea's KT has forged a deal with global Wi-Fi provider Fon covering the sharing of Wi-Fi hotspots.
Under the agreement, KT's customers will gain free access to Fon's Wi-Fi network worldwide. In return, international Fon customers will be able to use KT's entire Wi-Fi network for free.
The agreement covers the use of smartphones and other Wi-Fi enabled devices. KT plans to offer the service to its entire customer base.
Fon's WiFi network covers nearly 13 million hotspots in markets including Japan, Australia, the UK and several continental European markets. The company has telco partners including Softbank, BT and Deutsche Telekom.
The deal comes hot on the heels of Fon's agreement with Australia's Telstra to share Wi-Fi hotspots, as part of Telstra's plan to roll out a major Wi-Fi network using mainly hotspots provided by home broadband customers.
Fon COO Alex Puregger commented that Korea is one of the most advanced telecom markets in the world.
“Fon has had members in Korea for long time,” he said. “Not surprisingly we see up to 5 times more WiFi traffic per user in a FonSpot in Korea compared to our average usage - mainly driven by heavy video streaming and gaming.”