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SK Telecom's profit rose 4.6% year-on-year in Q2, but declined slightly compared to the first quarter.
The South Korean cellco posted net income of 311.6 billion won ($251.1 million), beating expectations, Bloombergreported.
Operating profit grew 3.8% to 553.4 billion won over last year, but quarter on quarter profit fell 1.6% and operating income shrank 1.9%, the result of what CFO Dong-Hyun Jang called "fierce marketing competition among operators."
SK Telecom increased subscriber numbers by 5% to 23.83 million. ARPU reached 43,369 won, increasing by only 28 won due to the growing adoption of the company's discount plans, it said.
The wireless internet division experienced the strongest growth, with revenue increasing 11.8% to 671.2 billion won, subscribers growing 33% to 3.18 million, and ARPU growing by 611 won.
Jang said the operator hoped to drive wireless data growth in the second half with new smartphones and "a wide variety of data plans."
Indian telco Tata Communications said Q2 net profit had fallen 67% to $6.6 million, with declines in both its wholesale voice and enterprise and carrier data segments.
Wholesale voice sale sank to $71 million from $83 million. Enterprise and carrier data revenues were off slightly to $72 million down from $73 million in Q2 2008.
For more:
- Telecom Paper has this article
Parts of this article originally appeared in FierceTelecom
Dylan Bushell-Embling & Sean Buckley, FierceTelecom