KT’s Q3 OP up 44.2% on solid corporate service business

KT CI

South Korean mobile carrier KT Corp saw its third-quarter operating profit surge by nearly 45 percent on Friday, driven by growth across its B2B and B2C sectors.

KT said in a regulatory filing that its consolidated operating profit stood at 464.1 billion won ($334 million) for the third quarter, up 44.2 percent from a year ago.

Sales reached 6.65 trillion won, down 0.6 percent during the same period. Net profit surged 32.9 percent to 383.2 billion won.

The operating profit was 2.6 percent higher than the market consensus of 452.5 billion won compiled by Yonhap Infomax.

KT’s wireless service sales rose 2 percent in the third quarter from the same period a year ago thanks to the expansion of its contact-free channel network and growth of its roaming and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business.

Fifth-generation (5G) subscribers accounted for 76 percent of KT’s entire subscribers following the release of new Galaxy smartphones.

KT’s fixed-line business, on the other hand, fell 1.3 percent in the third quarter.

Media business sales fell 1.2 percent due to a decline in advertisement sales and paid content purchases.

Corporate service business sales rose 2.5 percent in line with the growth of its AI Contact Center business.