SK Telecom has reported that its quarterly net income exceeded 1 trillion won for the first time in the company's history during the third quarter.
The operator reported a net income of 1.05 trillion won ($921.27 million), due to equity method gains and a record high performance at semiconductor subsidiary SK Hynix. This represents a year on year increase of 32.4%.
But SK Telecom's operating revenue for the quarter fell by 5.8% year-on-year to 4.18 trillion won, with operating income down 22.5% to 304 billion won.
A decline in mobile earnings due to a rise in discount plan subscribers and the plan's increased discount rate from 20% to 25% contributed to the decline.
The company meanwhile reported continued solid growth in its media business, with IPTV revenue growing 26.3% year-on-year to 322.8 billion won.
SK Telecom is also continuing to diversify into the broader ICT market with the acquisition of ADT Caps and plans to enter the Korean security services market by building an integrated security system ranging from physical security to information security.
This is accompanied by the operator's recent spin-off of online commerce company 11st from SK Planet, as well as the unveiling of its NUGU Developers open AI platform.
“Despite difficulties in the mobile communications market environment, SK Telecom has continued to implement innovative measures to provide customers with real and practical benefits,” SK Telecom EVP and head of corporate center Ryu Young-sang said.
“Based on customer trust built through such efforts, we will promote sound and long-term growth of the company.”