The fallout from the hacking split the first-quarter results of the three telecom companies. SK Telecom and KT saw sales and operating profit decline due to the hacking incident, while LG Uplus posted simultaneous growth in sales and operating profit on spillover gains.
◇ Hacking fallout divides results of the three telecom companies
According to the electronic disclosure system on the 12th, SK Telecom posted first-quarter sales of 4.3923 trillion won and operating profit of 537.6 billion won. Compared with a year earlier, sales fell 1.4% and operating profit fell 5.3%. SK Telecom added a net 210,000 mobile subscribers in the first quarter, showing signs of recovering from the hacking incident, but the impact is still weighing on results. As of the end of 2025, SK Telecom had 21.75 million mobile subscribers, down about 980,000 from a year earlier, and as a result, the subscriber count for the first quarter is lower than in the first quarter of last year. Accordingly, first-quarter mobile revenue decreased 3% from a year earlier. Kim Jeong-chan, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities Co., said, "Given the weaker subscriber base, a year-over-year decline in wireless service sales is inevitable."
KT also saw operating profit plunge as hacking damage compensation expense began to be fully reflected this quarter. In the first quarter, it posted sales of 6.7784 trillion won and operating profit of 482.7 billion won. Sales fell 1.0% and operating profit plunged 29.9% from a year earlier. KT waived termination fees for 14 days from Dec. 31 last year to Jan. 13 this year, during which about 230,000 subscribers left. However, from February, subscribers turned to net additions, and KT's first-quarter wireless service sales grew 0.4% from a year earlier. KT said, "Some costs related to the customer reward program implemented from February and the security breach have been reflected."
By contrast, LG Uplus recorded first-quarter sales of 3.8037 trillion won and operating profit of 272.3 billion won, up 1.5% and 6.6%, respectively, from a year earlier. Analysts said spillover gains from KT's termination fee waiver had a positive effect on results. LG Uplus' total mobile subscriber lines rose 6.4% year over year to 30,931,000, with a net increase of 220,000 lines during the quarter. Fueled by the increase in subscriber lines, total revenue in the mobile segment in the first quarter was 1.6526 trillion won, up 3.2% from a year earlier. Kim Jang-won, an analyst at BNK Investment & Securities, said, "Benefiting from competitor subscriber outflows, the company's subscriber scale is on a different level than last year."
The combined first-quarter sales of the three telecom companies came to 14.9744 trillion won, down 0.5% from 15.0469 trillion won a year earlier, while combined operating profit was 1.2926 trillion won, down 14.5% from 1.5116 trillion won a year earlier.
◇ AI data centers emerge as new growth drivers
Artificial intelligence (AI) data centers are establishing themselves as new growth drivers for telecom companies. In the first quarter, SK Telecom's AI data center sales reached 131.4 billion won, a surge of 89.3% from a year earlier. Kim Tae-hyun, an analyst at IBK Securities, said, "This is due to higher utilization at the Gasan data center and the effect of the Pangyo data center," adding, "Construction of the Ulsan AI data center (target operation in 2027) is also proceeding smoothly."
LG Uplus also posted first-quarter AI data center sales of 114.4 billion won, up 31.0% from a year earlier. That is about 3% of LG Uplus' total sales. LG Uplus said, "We have expanded the AI data center business in earnest from a traditional colocation (data center leasing) focus to a DBO (design, build, operate) model, diversifying our business scope and revenue structure." Kim Aram, a senior analyst at Shinhan Investment & Securities, said, "Utilization is rising at the Pyeongchon 2 data center and Koramco Asset Management's Gasan data center, which LG Uplus operates under contract, and revenue recognition has begun for Koramco's Busan DBO project," adding, "The Paju data center is scheduled to open in May next year."
KT is expanding its AI data center business led by its subsidiary KT Cloud. KT Cloud opened the Gasan data center in November last year and in December built the "AI Innovation Center" in Seoul's Yangcheon District to test next-generation data center technologies. KT said, "By expanding utilization of the Gasan data center, building new data centers, and growing the AI foundry business, KT Cloud will continue to post double-digit annual growth."