KOSPI-listed FreeT (formerly Inscobee) has begun a full-fledged push into an eco-friendly new business.
FreeT said on the 23rd that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with nuclear power engineering company Orion ENC to commercialize a "mobile plasma waste treatment facility."
This agreement is the first strategic move since FreeT changed its name from "Inscobee" to "FreeT (freeT)" at an extraordinary shareholders meeting last month. FreeT currently operates an MVNO (budget phone) business with annual sales of 100 billion won, a smart grid business related to remote metering for Korea Electric Power Corporation, and a power efficiency business centered on municipal industrial complexes.
Through this MOU, FreeT will pursue comprehensive joint commercialization across the entire process, including manufacturing, supply, installation, and operation of the mobile plasma waste treatment facility, based on the facility's core technology. Orion ENC will support technical training and preparation of marketing materials, while FreeT will leverage its sales network and marketing capabilities built in the telecommunications, smart grid, and power efficiency markets to lead domestic and overseas customer development and order acquisition.
The mobile plasma waste treatment facility is container-shaped and freely transportable, enabling immediate and eco-friendly treatment at waste generation sites such as disaster scenes, islands and remote mountainous areas, military bases, medical facilities, and burial sites for foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza. It is seen as a way to overcome difficulties in securing conventional fixed large incineration plants and opposition from local residents.
A FreeT official said, "This collaboration will be an inflection point for FreeT to leap forward as an eco-friendly energy company based on its stable telecommunications business."
The agreement runs for three years and includes an automatic extension clause, paving the way for long-term cooperation. FreeT plans to hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting in Jul. to add related items to its business purposes.
Meanwhile, Inscobee appointed new management last month and released a management policy that includes selling underperforming non-core assets and equity.