April 25, 2024

• 

[THE INVESTOR] SK Telecom said on Nov. 6 its third-quarter net profit more than doubled from a year earlier.

Net income reached 793 billion won (US$710 million) in the July-September period, compared with a profit of 322 billion won for the same period the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Operating profit fell 7.5 percent on-year to 392.4 billion won, while sales moved up 4.7 percent to 444.2 billion won over the cited period.

SK Telecom that said while its sales increased on the back of the rising number of subscribers to mobile services, its operating profit lost ground due to increased marketing expenditure.

Its net profit, however, increased due to gains from equity ties with Korea’s No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix. SK Telecom is currently the biggest shareholder of SK hynix, with its stake standing at around 20 percent.

The country’s No. 1 mobile carrier said its service subscribers numbered 30.16 million, up 705,000 from a year earlier. Subscribers for its LTE network services came to 22.5 million, taking up 74.8 percent of the combined users.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)