SK Telecom’s Q1 net dips 0.1 pc on higher corporate taxes

Seoul, May 12 SK Telecom, South Korea's leading wireless service provider, said on Monday its first-quarter net profit edged down 0.1 per cent from a year earlier due to higher corporate taxes.

Net profit for the three months ended in March fell to 361.6 billion won ($258.3 million) from 361.9 billion won in the same period last year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

"Corporate taxes increased in the first quarter due to the expiration of special depreciation provisions," a company spokesperson said, reports Yonhap news agency.

However, operating profit rose 13.8 percent to 567.4 billion won in the January-March period from 498.5 billion won a year ago, supported by solid revenue growth in its artificial intelligence businesses, including AI data centers (AIDC) and AI transformation (AIX), as well as its fixed-line segment.

SK Telecom said demand for its AI solutions from corporate clients is steadily increasing, boosting its AIX division.

Sales edged down 0.5 percent to 4.45 trillion won from 4.47 trillion won over the same period.

Separately, the company reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening customer protection and rebuilding trust following a recent data breach.

SK Telecom, which serves 25 million users -- about half of South Korea's domestic market -- has faced mounting pressure after disclosing a large-scale leak of universal subscriber identity module (USIM) data affecting its entire user base in April.

The company has elevated its fraud detection system (FDS), which blocks abnormal authentication attempts, to its highest operational level.

It also automatically enrolled all eligible users in its USIM card protection service and began offering free USIM card replacements. As of May 11, 1.47 million users had completed the process.

The government-led investigation into a major data breach at SK Telecom Co. is expected to release its findings by the end of June, Minister of Science and ICT Yoo Sang-im said.

The breach, which occurred on April 18, involved a large-scale leak of universal subscriber identity module (USIM) data, affecting SK Telecom's entire user base of 25 million. In response, a joint government-civilian panel was formed to conduct a comprehensive probe.

"The panel is investigating how the hackers infiltrated the system, what exactly transpired and how SK Telecom responded to the incident," Yoo said during a media briefing in Seoul, adding that the government will determine the penalties SK Telecom should face based on the panel's findings.

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