"Wireless and IPTV Business Growth" SKT Reports Q2 Operating Profit of 459.6 Billion KRW, Up 16%

Wireless Communication Business, Leadership Announcement
SKB Achieves No.1 Net Increase in IPTV Subscribers

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] SK Telecom continued its strong performance in the second quarter following the first quarter, driven by balanced growth across its major business areas including telecommunications and new ventures.

SKT announced on the 9th that its consolidated financial statements showed second-quarter sales of 4.2899 trillion KRW and operating profit of 459.6 billion KRW, representing increases of 4.0% and 16.1% respectively compared to the same period last year. Net profit was 258.1 billion KRW, down 67.6% year-on-year due to the exclusion of equity-method gains from SK Hynix.

Based on separate financial statements, SKT recorded second-quarter sales of 3.1182 trillion KRW and operating profit of 380.9 billion KRW, growing 3.2% and 16.0% respectively compared to the same period last year. The enterprise business, including cloud solutions, supported growth centered on wired and wireless telecommunications.

SK Broadband’s sales increased 3.6% year-on-year to 1.033 trillion KRW. Operating profit rose 21.8% to 78.2 billion KRW. SKB explained, "We succeeded in recruiting the largest number of IPTV subscribers in the first half of the year."

With the advent of the SKT 2.0 era, SKT stated that the five major business groups proposed as new growth engines are maintaining balanced growth and translating into tangible results. The five business groups are wired and wireless telecommunications, media business, enterprise, AIVERSE (AI+Universe), and connected intelligence.

In the wired and wireless telecommunications business, SKT launched new rate plans timed with the milestone of surpassing 10 million 5G subscribers last quarter, with 5G users now accounting for half of all handset subscribers, entering a mainstream phase. This strengthened customer choice and service competitiveness. The media business, based on SKB’s quantitative growth, recorded sales of 382.1 billion KRW, a 22.3% increase compared to the same period last year.

Enterprise business sales, centered on data centers and cloud, reached 374.3 billion KRW, growing 13.8% year-on-year. This marked double-digit growth for two consecutive quarters compared to the same period last year. The company expects sales growth to continue due to rising demand for data centers. Cloud business sales increased by 133% compared to the same period last year.

Subscription services achieved a total merchandise sales volume (GMV) of 260 billion KRW in the first half of this year. In particular, T Woju surpassed 1.2 million users, mainly among those in their 20s to 40s. 'Ifland,' which celebrated its first anniversary, recorded a monthly active user count (MAU) of 1.63 million and cumulative downloads of 8.7 million.

Recently, SKT signed a strategic partnership and equity swap worth approximately 400 billion KRW with Hana Financial Group. SKT stated, "As we have led innovation through cross-industry collaboration, we plan to drive future ICT financial innovation through the convergence of ICT and finance."