April 27, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] The total amount of cashable assets held by the country’s three mobile carriers more than doubled over the past seven years, government data showed on Oct. 22.

According to the data from the Korea Exchange and submitted to the National Assembly, the telecom companies -- SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- had cashable holdings such as cash and checks worth 3.83 trillion won (US$3.37 billion) as of the end of last year, compared with 1.78 trillion won logged in 2010.

The amount of cashable holdings by SK Telecom jumped by 4.1 times to 1.45 trillion won over the cited period, the data showed.

KT’s cashable assets jumped by 2.2 times to 1.92 trillion won while LG Uplus’ amount decreased by 87.6 billion won to 449.9 billion won, the data showed.

Increased cash holdings normally would indicate improved corporate financial stability, but they also suggest that they are reluctant to spend the money on business investment, market watchers said.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)