Sk Telecom Stock Earnings Reports

Key points for investors:

- Financial results: Q3 2025 consolidated revenue KRW 3,978.1bn (down 12.2% YoY). Operating income fell ~90.9% YoY to KRW 48.4bn. Net income turned negative due to penalties related to a cybersecurity incident. The Board decided not to declare a Q3 dividend.

- Cybersecurity incident impact: The incident drove major revenue erosion (≈KRW 547.7bn YoY fall in mobile revenue), largely from a 50% tariff discount and enhanced customer benefits in August; KRW 134.8bn in fines from the Personal Information Protection Commission was recorded as a non-operating expense. Management says the largest impact is in 2025 and expects normalization in 2026.

- Dividend outlook: No Q3 dividend; Board will review year-end/Q4 dividend after full-year results and cashflow. Management reiterates intent to restore dividends to pre-incident levels as performance recovers; shareholder-return policy targets 50% of adjusted consolidated net income as a symbolic lower bound.

- Operational recovery and customer actions: 5G subscribers increased ~240k QoQ to 17.26m; broadband and IPTV net adds were positive. Company focused on containment of churn (net-neutral additions in Aug–Sep) and shifted to qualitative recovery and targeted, analytics-driven marketing rather than aggressive rebates.

- New product & service initiatives: Launched 'Air', a digital-only service for unlocked devices targeting 20s–30s with simpler plans (minimal ARPU impact expected). A. (AI assistant) surpassed ~10.56m cumulative subscribers/10m+ MAU; B2C paid/subscription models are under review targeting first half 2026, and some B2B monetization (A. agentic workflows) is expected to start contributing from Q4.

- AI & data center growth: AI business revenue +35.7% YoY; AI DC revenue KRW 149.8bn (+53.8% YoY). Groundbreaking/ construction started for Ulsan AI DC (revenue ramp and profit expected from 2027). Memorandum with OpenAI for a dedicated AI data center in Korea; target to reach ~KRW 1 trillion revenue from cumulative ~300MW data center capacity by 2030, and additional Seoul AI data center planning underway.

- Guidance & priorities: Management emphasizes security investment, next‑gen technologies, external verification, customer trust restoration, and execution to return to pre-incident operating profit levels. Q4 revenue impact from customer appreciation measures will persist but should be smaller than Q3; Q4 operating profit visibility is cautious due to seasonal spending.