“We are currently reviewing an idea of selling a new foreign brand smartphone in addition to the iPhone 6 as a way to give our customers more choice. As long as the issues of quality commensurate with customers’ expectations and the device’s warranty services are adequately addressed, there would be little problem in introducing the new model.”
“As subscribers use more and more data and the number of LTE service users increases, the ARPU [average revenue per user] is improving steadily. The average data usage per subscriber for the third quarter has increased 15 percent from the previous quarter. With the introduction of the unlimited data rate plan and the rising LTE subscriber numbers, we believe the ARPU to rise consistently.”
“Our affiliate SK Planet will likely break the 5 trillion won market value by the end of 2016 as expected. The commerce capabilities gained by SK Planet’s U.S. affiliate, coupled with the technical prowess of Shopkick, the mobile reward service, and the network it has developed in the country will be more than enough to launch a commerce business there.”
Hwang Soo-cheol, CFO of SK Telecom
SK Telecom announced its third-quarter financial results in which it posted operating profit of 536.5 billion won, down 2.7 percent from the same quarter a year ago and down 1.7 percent from the previous quarter.
SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Korea Bizwire) – Hwang Soo-cheol, the chief financial officer of SK Telecom, said on October 29 in a conference call announcing the third-quarter financial results that his company would do everything it can to retain existing customers and sign up new ones by offering differentiated handsets and services, in addition to the launch of the Apple iPhone 6 on the 31st.
To a question how the sale of a foreign brand handset will impact the company’s bottom line, he answered, “Even though we have to look at the outcome after introduction, I think the sales revenue would keep rising as subscribers keep increasing their data usage and more users opt for the unlimited rate plan.”
He also said that the mobile handset retail structure improvement law that went into effect on October 1 will have limited impact on the company’s profitability in the short run. Instead, he continued, the law would encourage the mobile telecom service operators to compete over service quality and handset offerings instead of one-time device subsidies, which will in the long run boost the profitability of all operators. He was optimistic that the share of LTE subscribers will rise as high as to 80 percent by 2016, with the average revenue per user rising steadily with it.
SK Telecom announced its third-quarter financial results in which it posted operating profit of 536.5 billion won, down 2.7 percent from the same quarter a year ago and down 1.7 percent from the previous quarter. During the same time, sales revenue and net profit rose. Its quarterly sales revenue was 4,367.5 billion won, up 5.9 percent from a year ago and up 1.4 percent from the previous quarter while net profit increased to 531 billion won, up 5.7 percent and 6.7 percent from a year ago and a quarter ago, respectively.
By John Choi (johnchoi@koreabizwire.com)
