Operating profit, revenue rise for KT in 2Q 2010

South Korean triple-play provider KT Corp has revealed its financial results for the three months ended 30 June 2010, posting a 24% year-on-year increase in operating profit. For its second fiscal quarter of the 2010/11 financial year the operator reported an operating profit of KRW601.4 billion (USD507.3 million), up from KRW483.4 billion a year earlier, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 7.7% against the corresponding period last year to KRW1.31 trillion. Revenue for the quarter was KRW4.99 trillion, up from KRW4.87 trillion twelve months earlier, but net income tumbled 31.8% y-o-y to KRW343.7 billion. CAPEX for the three-month period stood at KRW690.4 billion, up 114.1% against 2Q09, when the operator spent KRW322.4 billion.

At end-June 2010 KT’s wireless subscriber base stood at 15.59 million, up 6% against end-June 2009, while the telco’s broadband customer total rose to 7.19 million, a 6.7% y-o-y increase. Traditional fixed line voice connections continued to decline meanwhile, standing at 17.23 million, down from 19.06 million last year, although the rise in uptake of voice-over-IP (VoIP) services offset that slightly; at the end of the first half of 2010 KT had a VoIP subscriber base of 2.22 million, almost triple the 795,000 it reported a year earlier.