[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] SK Telecom achieved solid performance last year, driven by balanced growth across all business areas including wired and wireless, media, and enterprise.
SKT announced on the 8th that it recorded consolidated sales of KRW 17.305 trillion and operating profit of KRW 1.6121 trillion last year. Compared to the previous year, sales increased by 3.3% and operating profit by 16.2%. Net profit decreased by 60.8% to KRW 947.8 billion due to a decline in equity-method gains from SK Hynix.
On a separate basis, last year’s sales were KRW 12.4146 trillion and operating profit KRW 1.3211 trillion, growing 2.6% and 18.6% respectively year-on-year. Separate net profit was KRW 869.5 billion.
SK Broadband’s sales and operating profit grew 2.6% and 10.9% year-on-year to KRW 4.1563 trillion and KRW 305.7 billion, respectively. The increase in paid broadcasting subscribers and growth in the B2B business were effective factors.
‘Five Major Business Groups’ Establish Growth Trajectory
As of 2022, SKT secured 13.39 million 5G subscribers, with 5G users accounting for more than 50% of total customers. SKB also continued its growth by attracting 9.32 million paid broadcasting subscribers by the end of the year.
Media business sales increased by 20.8% year-on-year to KRW 1.5373 trillion. Content, advertising, and commerce grew based on solid wired and wireless leadership.
Enterprise business sales, centered on data centers and cloud, achieved KRW 1.5086 trillion, up 12.5% year-on-year. Increased utilization rates of data centers located in Gasan and Siksa areas and rising cloud traffic led to sales growth. SKT plans to improve profitability through operational efficiency in an environment where structural growth of data center and cloud businesses is expected. In addition, it will actively promote businesses utilizing various AI technologies and solutions such as robotics and vision AI.
The AIVERSE business’s ‘T Universe’ exceeded the initial sales target set at the beginning of last year with total product sales of approximately KRW 570 billion. As of December last year, subscribers increased by more than 60% compared to the first quarter, maintaining growth momentum. ‘Ifland’ also achieved encouraging results by attracting more than 10% of total MAU (monthly active users) from overseas as of December last year. This year, it plans to strengthen the economic system through the introduction of in-app payments.
SKT resolved a dividend of KRW 830 per share for the fourth quarter of 2022. Including the already paid KRW 2,490, the annual dividend amounts to KRW 3,320, which is a 66% increase compared to 2020 before the stock split. It will be finalized after approval at the regular shareholders’ meeting in March.
Active Promotion of Transformation into an ‘AI Company’
SKT is making this year the first year of its leap and transformation into an AI company, aiming to produce tangible results.
Through ‘A.Dot’, SKT started the world’s first Korean-language GPT-3 commercialization service in the B2C sector. Within this month, it plans to enhance the service by equipping it with ‘long-term memory’ technology that remembers old information for use in conversations, and ‘multi-modal’ technology that can understand complex information such as text, photos, and voice.
Also, leveraging its world-first Korean GPT-3 commercialization capabilities, SKT plans to advance ‘A.Dot’ through in-house technology development and integration with ChatGPT, as well as technology partnerships with domestic and international companies, aiming for an official service launch within this year.
SKT has formed the ‘K-UAM Dream Team Consortium’ and is participating in domestic urban air mobility (UAM) demonstration projects, preparing for Korea’s first UAM commercialization in 2025. It has signed an exclusive partnership with global UAM aircraft manufacturer Joby Aviation and is striving to secure advanced communication network and service platform operation capabilities. At CES 2023 held this year, SKT’s key executives met with Joby Aviation’s core management to discuss close cooperation.
Kim Jinwon, SKT CFO (Chief Financial Officer), said, “2022 was a year when the five major business groups proposed with the launch of SKT 2.0 began to produce tangible results and settled on a growth trajectory. This year, based on solid performance, we will enhance shareholder value through transformation and leap into an AI company.”
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