SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) announced today that it signed an agreement with Telkom Indonesia (NYSE:TLK) to jointly provide Connected English Learning Service (CELS), Indonesia’s first wired-wireless interworking English education platform.

CELS is a service which combines SK Telecom’s wired and wireless education platform with content from Chungdahm Learning, Inc., a major English language educational institute in Korea. Under the partnership, SK Telecom will provide the education platform with Telkom supplying local infrastructures such as marketing, hardware and networks.

CELS is scheduled to launch in November of this year, beginning in the five major cities of Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi. SK Telecom and Telkom plan to extend the service to the entire country by 2012.

Subscribers to CELS will be able to enjoy the service through Internet, mobile Internet and mobile application, allowing access to the English learning platform through smart devices anywhere, while on the go. The service also offers one-to-one English conversation lessons via phone. Moreover, as CELS can be accessed through a Facebook fan page and application, the service is expected to satisfy Indonesia’s large Facebook community who make up the world’s second-largest group of members on the social networking site by nation.

Indonesia represents an attractive market for SK Telecom’s first overseas education platform business. With the world’s fourth-largest population, comprising 60 percent in the so-called educational age of between 5 and 40 years old, and high private education costs compared to income levels, Indonesia has strong growth potential for e-learning. A recent survey jointly conducted by SK Telecom and Telkom, showed that 70 percent of middle and high school students in Indonesia wish to study through e-learning, adding weight to forecasts that ICT-based educational businesses in the country are set to prosper.

For the launch of CELS in Indonesia, SK Telecom has localized the service to appeal to the Indonesian market. By providing content and educational methods suited to Indonesian characteristics, SK Telecom’s CELS aims to enhance consumer receptivity and education effectiveness. For instance, reflecting the interests of Indonesian customers, the service provides educational content based on up-to-date news of current events in Indonesia and news related to various business fields such as finance and manufacturing.

To boost educational achievement, CELS combines the best of online and offline learning methods. Motivation is improved with various online features such as free study schedule options, real-time evaluations, participation analysis and feedback, as well as opportunities for personal English speaking lessons with instructors, a strength of offline institutions.

As SK Telecom’s second platform business in Indonesia, following the launch of its online and mobile music service Melon Indonesia in December 2010, CELS is expected to provide a gateway for Korea’s successful education content providers to enter the global market. SK Telecom plans to expand connected learning service to other platforms – such as IPTV – in Indonesia and also export the service to other Southeast Asian countries.

"CELS demonstrates how SK Telecom’s advanced education platform technologies can provide a new and interactive English learning experience via smart devices, regardless of time and place," said Yook Tae-Sun, Executive Vice President and head of Industry Productivity Enhancement (IPE) Business at SK Telecom. "Beginning with the CELS launch in Indonesia, SK Telecom will work towards building up our education platform business in Southeast Asian markets as part of our efforts to implement a comprehensive global service platform business."

A service agreement ceremony was held on Sept. 28 with SK Telecom’s Yook Tae-Sun and Telkom’s Executive General Manager Joddy Hernady at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia.