Company Reports

SK Telecom's telecom market position is strong, and we like the free cash flow it generates. SK Telecom was Korea's first wireless operator, and we believe it has done a good job of maintaining a leading position. The firm continues to claim just under 45% wireless market share, including the leading position among postpaid contract customers, which provides it with the highest average revenue per user among Korean wireless operators. However, this has come at a cost, with wireless operating profit nearly halving between 2017 and 2019. More pleasing has been the wireless operating profit growth reported from 2020 to 2024, as competition seems to have stabilized with 5G generating incremental revenue.

SK Telecom's second-quarter 2026 revenue was up 0.5%, with operating income up 67%, given that the second quarter of 2025 was affected by the cybersecurity breach.

SK Telecom's telecom market position is strong, and we like the free cash flow it generates. SK Telecom was Korea's first wireless operator, and we believe it has done a good job of maintaining a leading position. The firm continues to claim just under 45% wireless market share, including the leading position among postpaid contract customers, which provides it with the highest average revenue per user among Korean wireless operators. However, this has come at a cost, with wireless operating profit nearly halving between 2017 and 2019. More pleasing has been the wireless operating profit growth reported from 2020 to 2024, as competition seems to have stabilized with 5G generating incremental revenue.

SK Telecom's first-quarter revenue was down 1.4%, with operating income down 5.3%, and the company declared a KRW 830 dividend after skipping the previous two quarters. Note that the large increase in the value of its stake in Anthropic is outweighing anything happening in the telecom business.

SK Telecom's telecom market position is strong, and we like the free cash flow it generates. SK Telecom was Korea's first wireless operator, and we believe it has done a good job of maintaining a leading position. The firm continues to claim just under 45% wireless market share, including the leading position among postpaid contract customers, which provides it with the highest average revenue per user among Korean wireless operators. However, this has come at a cost, with wireless operating profit nearly halving between 2017 and 2019. More pleasing has been the wireless operating profit growth reported from 2020 to 2024, as competition seems to have stabilized with 5G generating incremental revenue.

SK Telecom's fourth-quarter revenue was down 4.1%, with operating income down 53%, and the company declared no dividend for the second consecutive quarter. However, this has been more than offset by a large increase in the value of its stake in Anthropic.

SK Telecom's telecom market position is strong, and we like the free cash flow it generates. SK Telecom was Korea's first wireless operator, and we believe it has done a good job of maintaining a leading position. The firm continues to claim just under 45% wireless market share, including the leading position among postpaid contract customers, which provides it with the highest average revenue per user among Korean wireless operators. However, this has come at a cost with wireless operating profit nearly halving between 2017 and 2019. More pleasing has been the wireless operating profit growth reported from 2020 to 2024 as competition seems to have stabilized with 5G generating incremental revenue.

SK Telecom's telecom market position is strong, and we like the free cash flow it generates. SK Telecom was Korea's first wireless operator, and we believe it has done a good job of maintaining a leading position. The firm continues to claim just under 45% wireless market share, including the leading position among postpaid contract customers, which provides it with the highest average revenue per user among Korean wireless operators. However, this has come at a cost with wireless operating profit nearly halving between 2017 and 2019. More pleasing has been the wireless operating profit growth reported from 2020 to 2024 as competition seems to have stabilized with 5G generating incremental revenue.

SK Telecom's third-quarter revenue was down 17%, driving an operating loss of KRW 52 billion and a net income loss of KRW 207 billion, due to expenses and discounts provided to customers after the malware attack on April 18, 2025.

SK Telecom's telecom market position is strong, and we like the free cash flow it generates. SK Telecom was Korea's first wireless operator, and we believe it has done a good job of maintaining a leading position. The firm continues to claim just under 45% wireless market share, including the leading position among postpaid contract customers, which provides it with the highest average revenue per user among Korean wireless operators. However, this has come at a cost with wireless operating profit nearly halving between 2017 and 2019. More pleasing has been the wireless operating profit growth reported from 2020 to 2024 as competition seems to have stabilized with 5G generating incremental revenue.

SK Telecom's second-quarter revenue was down 1.9% with operating profit down by 37% and net income down 76%. Full-year revenue guidance was lowered from KRW 17.8 trillion to KRW 17 trillion.

SK Telecom's first-quarter 2025 revenue was flat with operating profit increasing by 14% mainly due to lower commissions paid due to the maturing 5G business.

SK Telecom's telecom market position is strong, and we like the free cash flow it generates. SK Telecom was Korea's first wireless operator, and we believe it has done a good job of maintaining a leading position. The firm continues to claim just under 45% wireless market share, including the leading position among postpaid contract customers, which provides it with the highest average revenue per user among Korean wireless operators. However, this has come at a cost with wireless operating profit nearly halving between 2017 and 2019. More pleasing has been the wireless operating profit growth reported from 2020 to 2024 as competition seems to have stabilized with 5G generating incremental revenue.

SK Telecom's 2024 revenue increased by 1.9% with operating profit up 4.0%. The fourth quarter was disappointing with revenue declining by 0.3% and operating profit declining by 14.4%.

SK Telecom's telecom market position is strong, and we like the free cash flow it generates. SK Telecom was Korea's first wireless operator, and we believe it has done a good job of maintaining a leading position. The firm continues to claim just under 45% wireless market share, including the leading position among postpaid contract customers, which provides it with the highest average revenue per user among Korean wireless operators. However, this has come at a cost with wireless operating profit nearly halving between 2017 and 2019. More pleasing has been the wireless operating profit growth reported from 2020 to 2024 as competition seems to have stabilized with 5G generating incremental revenue.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law following parliamentary disputes. The declaration was voted down by parliament.

SK Telecom's telecom market position is strong, and we like the free cash flow it generates. SK Telecom was Korea's first wireless operator, and we believe it has done a good job of maintaining a leading position. The firm continues to claim just under 45% wireless market share, including the leading position among postpaid contract customers, which provides it with the highest average revenue per user among Korean wireless operators. However, this has come at a cost with wireless operating profit nearly halving between 2017 and 2019. More pleasing has been the wireless operating profit growth reported from 2020 to 2023 as competition seems to have stabilized with 5G generating incremental revenue.

SK Telecom's third-quarter 2024 revenue increased by 2.9% with operating profit up 7.1%. These growth rates are broadly in line with the first half and are slightly better than our expectations.

No-moat SKT’s second-quarter 2024 result was somewhat opaque. Revenue increased by 2.7%, and reported operating income increased by 16%, but operating income was boosted by a lump-sum patent license contract included in the second quarter, with the magnitude of this one-off not disclosed. Management continues to aggressively pursue growth in data centers, cloud, and artificial intelligence, while the core telecom business churns out low-single-digit growth. We retain our SKT fair value estimate at USD 31 per ADR and see the shares as undervalued at these levels. The company declared a second-quarter dividend of KRW 830 per share, the same as the first-quarter dividend, and is targeting a full-year dividend payout ratio of at least 50% of consolidated net income. Management maintains its 2024 revenue target of KRW 17.9 billion, implying 2% growth. This may look low, but it requires a slight increase on a 2023 growth rate that was helped by a recovery in roaming revenue after the covid-19 pandemic. We forecast 2024 revenue growth of 2.1%, which should still drive operating profit growth of 2.5%.

SK Telecom's telecom market position is strong, and we like the free cash flow it generates. SK Telecom was Korea's first wireless operator, and we believe it has done a good job of maintaining a leading position. The firm continues to claim just under 45% wireless market share, including the leading position among postpaid contract customers, which provides it with the highest average revenue per user among Korean wireless operators. However, this has come at a cost with wireless operating profit nearly halving between 2017 and 2019. More pleasing has been the wireless operating profit growth reported from 2020 to 2023 as competition seems to have stabilized with 5G generating incremental revenue.