(LEAD) KT-Q4 earnings
(LEAD) KT's Q4 net soars on robust growth in 5G users, new biz
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SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- KT Corp., a major South Korean telecom operator, said Wednesday its fourth-quarter net profit grew by more than tenfold from a year earlier on solid growth in 5G users and new businesses, including artificial intelligence.
Net income reached 424.4 billion won (US$355 million) in the October-December period on a consolidated basis, up 1,041 percent from a profit of 37.2 billion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Operating income rose 128.4 percent on-year to 369.4 billion won, while sales stood at 6.62 trillion won, up 6.7 percent over the cited period.
For the whole of 2021, KT's net income more than doubled on-year to 1.46 trillion won, from a net profit of 703.4 billion won the previous year.
Annual operating income hiked 41.2 percent to 1.67 trillion won. Annual sales rose 4.1 percent to 24.9 trillion won over the cited period.
KT said the growth in 5G users led its annual wireless service sales, which rose 2.4 percent to 6.1 trillion won.
The company had 6.37 million users on its latest generation network as of the end of last year, up more than 200,000 from three months earlier, according to government data.
KT's business-to-business service in telecommunications remained strong, with related sales standing at 500.8 billion won in the last three months of 2021, up 8 percent on-year on data traffic growth.
Sales from the company's artificial intelligence and digital business, which includes internet data centers and cloud services, edged up 0.3 percent to 518.6 billion won over the same period.
In particular, the company's AI business sector, including smart mobility, robots and block chain, jumped 20.6 percent on-year to 94.2 billion won.
The company aims to expand the portion of revenue from its B2B digital business from the current 40 percent to 50 percent by 2025, shifting away from the traditional telecommunication business to focus on fostering new technology businesses.
KT's major subsidiaries also logged robust growth last year, with credit card unit BC Card Co.'s annual sales adding 5.7 percent on-year to 3.57 trillion won, and real estate subsidiary KT estate Ltd.'s sales leaping 58.3 percent to 576.7 billion won over the same period.
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