Seoul: SK Telecom, South Korea`s top wireless operator, posted a 65.6-percent jump in its first-quarter net profits on 6th May, thanks to decreased marketing costs and stronger profits from its chip-making subsidiary.
Net profits for January to March amounted to 442.7 billion won ($410.1 million), up from 267.3 billion a year ago but down 12 percent from the previous quarter.
Operating profit soared 59.5 percent from a year ago to 402.6 billion won, while sales inched up 0.9 percent to 4.2 trillion won, the company said in a statement.
SK Hynix, the firm`s chip-making unit, earlier reported a 61 percent jump in its first-quarter net profit on strong demand for chips for new handsets including Apple`s iPhone 6.
In the first quarter of last year, SK Telecom outlaid an unusually large 1.1 trillion won for marketing to woo new subscribers before the onset of a 45-day partial business suspension slapped on the company as a penalty for offering illegal discounts.
It said it had spent relatively less on marketing this year, boosting its balance sheet compared to a year ago.
SK Telecom has about 28.4 million users, about half of the South`s vibrant mobile service market.
Some 61 percent of its customers are using the faster, higher-priced 4G service, up from 53 percent a year ago, further helping boost the firm`s bottom line, it said.
Competition is fierce in the increasingly saturated wireless market in South Korea, which has some 41.2 million smartphone users in a population of 51 million.
