South Korea’s top mobile operator SK Telecom said Tuesday that second-quarter net profit surged nearly 300 percent thanks to robust earnings at its new chip-making affiliate and growth in new-generation services.
The firm said in a statement that net profit for April-June amounted to 467.7 billion won ($420.4 million), up 288 percent from 120.6 billion won a year ago.
On-year operating profit surged 33.2 percent to 553.4 billion won and sales rose 3.9 percent to 4.1 trillion won.
Robust earnings of SK Hynix — the world’s number two memory chipmaker which became part of the SK group last year — helped boost earnings, SKT said.
SK Hynix reported a record second-quarter operating profit of 1.1 trillion won last week.
Rapid growth of its fourth-generation long-term evolution (LTE) services also contributed to the brisk earnings, SKT said, adding that about 11 million people — more than 40 percent of its total subscribers — have made the upgrade.
South Korean wireless operators have spent heavily to promote 4G services to accommodate a growing number of smartphone users demanding faster speeds to download videos or play games.
The company said it had drawn some 300,000 subscribers for its new LTE-Advanced service — which offers speeds twice that of existing 4G network and 10 times that of 3G — since its launch in late June.
SK Telecom second-quarter net profit jumps on affiliate earnings
