LTE accounts for more than 66% of South Korean telco’s subscriber base
South Korea’s largest mobile operator, SK Telecom, said it ended the fourth quarter of 2015 with 18.98 million LTE subscribers, climbing 13.4% vs. the year-ago period. LTE subscribers accounted for 66.3% of the telco’s overall mobile base at the end of the quarter, climbing 7.1 percentage points year-on-year.
SK Telecom said it added 152,000 net customers during the latest quarter, pushing its total customer base to 28.62 million. Smartphone subscribers totaled 20.62 million at the end of December, up 5.8% year-on-year.
SK Telecom launched LTE service in July 2011, commercialized 150-megabit per second updates in June 2013 and 225 Mbps LTE-Advanced services in June 2014 through carrier aggregation. The Asian telco also launched 300 Mbps tri-band LTE-A capabilities in mid-2015.
SK Telecom generated consolidated revenue of KRW 4.38 trillion ($3.6 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2015, up 2.8% year-on-year. Net profit for the quarter amounted to KRW 3 billion, down compared to KRW 64 billion to Q4 2014. The operator’s capital expenditures for the period totaled KRW 824 billion, an increased compared to KRW 774 billion in Q4 2014. The firm’s capex for full 2015 reached KRW 1.89 trillion, below the initial guidance of KRW 2 trillion.
The telco said it’s set to begin generating tangible results this year in its Next-Generation Platform business, which kicked off last year with a focus on customer-oriented services and content.
“Last year, SK Telecom focused on securing new economic growth engines amid economic uncertainties, including stalled growth of the telecommunications market and subscribers,” said Hwang Keun-joo, CFO and head of SK Telecom’s Strategy and Planning Division. “In the year 2016, we will reap tangible results in the next-generation platform business based on our unrivalled strength in telecommunications.”
Idea Cellular launches LTE in Bangalore
In other APAC news, Indian mobile operator Idea Cellular launched LTE services in Bangalore. The operator said it’s looking to expand LTE service in 18 towns and cities across the region in the coming months. Some of the cities to be covered with LTE include Mangalore, Udupi-Manipal, Bijapur and Bellary.
In Karnataka, the service is commercially available in Channarayapatna, Udyavara, Harihar, Kunigal, Mulbagal, and Toranagal, currently covering approximately 20% of the state’s population. Idea Cellular expects the LTE service to be available in Maharashtra and Goa, North East and Orissa by March 2016. By mid-2016, Idea’s LTE footprint is set to cover 750 cities across 10 telecom circles.
