As landlines fade into history, KT’s Q1 earnings drop 27%

Korean telecom giant KT said yesterday that its first-quarter earnings dropped 26.6 percent from a year before due to decreased demand for fixed-line communication services.

Net profit stood at 407.58 billion won ($358.78 million) in the January-March period compared with 555.21 billion won a year earlier, the country’s second-largest mobile carrier said in a regulatory filing.

Sales climbed 9.1 percent on-year to 5.75 trillion won, while operating profit tumbled 20.3 percent to 574.72 billion won.

The weaker bottom line was caused by general sluggishness in local communications services, KT said, adding that fixed-line communication and Internet revenues slumped.

Sales, however, rose thanks to the improved performance of its Internet protocol television and KT Skylife satellite digital broadcasting service, KT said.

Yonhap