KT Corp's Q2 operating profit gains 15.8 percent

KT Corp., South Korea's largest fixed-line and broadband operator, said Friday its second-quarter operating profit rose 15.8 percent from a year ago, partly helped by an increase of mobile phone subscribers.

KT posted an operating profit of 426.9 billion won ($379.6 million) for the April-June period, compared with a profit of 368.8 billion won for the same quarter last year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Second-quarter net income, however, fell 20.7 percent on year to 230 billion won. KT said its net income for the same quarter last year jumped because of a one-off factor after selling its subsidiary.

Sales rose 4.5 percent on year to 5.6 trillion won for the April-June period.

South Korean mobile carriers have benefited from curbs in marketing costs following a 2015 law that kept fierce competition for customers among telecom firms in check.

KT added about 200,000 new mobile phone subscribers for the second quarter.

KT's second-quarter average revenue per user, a key indicator of a mobile carrier's profitability, rose 1.1 percent on quarter to 36,527 won. (Yonhap)