Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Top 3 telecoms expect over $2.7 bil. in combined operating profit despite cybersecurity incidents
People walk past a mobile phone retail shop in Seoul, Dec. 23, 2025. Yonhap
By Lee Gyu-lee
Short-term losses from data breaches offset by stable core operations, AI ventures, subscriber growth
Three major Korean telecom companies are projected to post a combined annual operating profit exceeding 4 trillion won ($2.7 billion) for 2025, despite a series of large-scale hacking incidents and data breaches that weighed on short-term performance.
According to analysts’ consensus estimates released over the past month, SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus are expected to reach total revenue of 60.9 trillion won with an operating profit of 4.38 trillion won for the year. The combined revenue rose 3.25 percent and operating profit increased 25.4 percent compared to the previous year, recovering to the 4 trillion won range for the first time since 2023.
The rebound comes even with short-term losses for SK Telecom and KT in response to security breaches, including contract termination fee waivers, bill discounts and customer compensation programs. While these measures impacted their quarterly earnings, steady performance in their core businesses and the growth of new ventures helped offset the losses.
SK Telecom is expected to record revenue of 17.15 trillion won and an operating profit of 1.06 trillion won for the fourth quarter, down 4.39 percent and 42.04 percent, respectively, from a year earlier. The company took a major hit following a massive hacking case in April, rolling out extensive customer compensation measures such as a cancellation fee waiver and 50 percent monthly bill discounts.
With profitability particularly strained in the third quarter from the fallout, its operating profit plunged more than 90 percent year-over-year to 48.4 billion won, and revenue fell 12.2 percent.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won bows to apologize for a large-scale data breach during a press conference in Seoul, May 7, 2025. Yonhap
KT showed stronger momentum with its annual revenue estimated at 28.24 trillion won, with operating profit surging to 2.42 trillion won, representing a 6.86 percent and nearly 200 percent increase, respectively.
In addition to stable telecom operations, its push into artificial intelligence (AI)-based businesses under its AI Transformation (AX) initiative and one-off gains from real estate sales help drive the earnings. However, the costs related to hacking cases, which surfaced last September, are expected to be reflected gradually in the first half of this year.
LG Uplus is projected to post 15.52 trillion won in revenue and 901.5 billion won in operating profit, up 6.11 percent and 4.46 percent, respectively. The company benefited from absorbing subscribers who switched from rivals following their hacking incidents, while new businesses such as business-to-business services and data centers also contributed to growth.
Despite the solid annual outlook, fourth-quarter earnings for all three companies, which are slated to be released early next month, may fall short of market expectations due to one-off expenses. SK Telecom is expected to book around 2.5 trillion won in costs related to voluntary retirement payouts, while KT still faces burdens from subscriber identity module card replacements and customer compensation.
However, with much of the uncertainty surrounding hacking incidents now settled, the telecom sector is expected to enter a new phase of growth driven by AI, data services and enterprise solutions.