SK Telecom issues bright outlook for 2021

SK Telecom issues bright outlook for 2021

SK Telecom (SKT) forecast solid revenue growth for 2021 along with a further 3.5 million 5G subscriber additions, after revealing figures for the fourth quarter and full year 2020.

In a statement, CFO Yoon Poong-young said SKT will accelerate its evolution towards becoming a global ICT player with “unrivalled competitiveness in AI” and make efforts to achieve a record annual revenue of KRW20 trillion ($17.9 billion) this year, a 7.4 per cent increase from KRW18.6 trillion in 2020.

Yoon said a 5 per cent increase in revenue in 2020 was driven by a 15.3 per cent rise in new ICT business areas including media and commerce: combined operating income from these segments accounted for 24 per cent of SKT’s total.

The operator closed 2020 with 5.48 million 5G subscribers compared with 2.08 million at end-2019, although this figure did not cover a full calendar year.

It noted net 5G additions in Q4 of 1.2 million were boosted by a wider handset range, including the iPhone 12.

During the quarter, net profit of KRW371 billion compared with a loss of KRW45.1 billion in Q4 2019, with strong equity gains from its interest in SK Hynix cited as a factor.

Mobile service revenue increased 1.6 per cent to KRW2.52 trillion.

Total mobile subscribers edged up 1.5 per cent to 39.1 million, though ARPU fell 3 per cent to KRW30,269.

Its security business generated revenue of KRW370.9 billion, increasing 18.3 per cent, while commerce sales in its 11st and SK Stoa units rose 7.2 per cent to KRW224.7 billion.

Back

Source of Article