Korean telecom operator KT ended 2019 with a total of 1.42 million subscribers in the 5G segment, the company said in its earnings statement.
However, the operator experienced a slowdown in the adoption of 5G subscriptions as net additions during the last quarter of the year amounted to 363,000, down from 636,000 in the third quarter.
KT also ended last year with a total of 21.9 million mobile subscribers, after a net addition of 800,000 mobile subscribers during the year.
The operator said that last year’s sales reached 24.34 trillion won ($20.6 billion), an increase of 3.9% year-on-year.
The operator’s 2019 net profit dropped 12.2% to 669 billion won, as the firm’s aggressive 5G service rollout required a sharp increase in network investment and also involved higher marketing costs.
Capex increased 65% to 3.26 trillion won, with access networks accounting for 67% of the total.
“Last year, KT managed to maintain a stable financial structure as it widened its customer base with its wire and wireless network service such as 5G and gigabit internet service,” KT CFO Kyung-keun Yoon said.
KT initially deployed its commercial 5G network in April last year.
As of February 2020, the operator had deployed a total of 71,000 5G base stations in 85 districts across the country.
The three Korean carriers launched limited 5G commercial services in December 2018 as part of an agreement with the ICT ministry to launch simultaneously to avoid excessive competition. The three mobile carriers initially launched the 5G service in limited areas in Seoul.
In June 2018, South Korea completed a tender process through which it awarded spectrum in both the 3.5 GHz and 28 GHz bands. The government made available a total of 280 megahertz in the 3.5 GHz spectrum band and 2,400 megahertz in the 28 GHz band.
In related news, KT Corp also has started to upgrade and migrate their existing product catalog to Amdocs CatalogONE.
Amdocs said in a release that this solution enables operators to create, deploy, test and launch new services and take advantage of new 5G use cases and revenue opportunities.
“KT was one of the first service providers globally to launch commercial 5G and deliver differentiated 5G experiences,” said Anthony Goonetilleke, group president of Media, Network and Technology at Amdocs. “This upgrade to Amdocs CatalogONE aligns with KT’s vision to adopt cloud-native technologies for greater business agility. It will enable them to quickly respond to market demands, while also testing and launching differentiated 5G use cases, shaping new connected society experiences.”
Amdocs CatalogONE enables end customers to benefit from more frequent service innovation and updated plans and bundles, as well as more market-driven promotions, such as offerings around special events and new 5G features, tailored for specific customer segments and sales channels.
