KTF's Q1 net profit plummets 38% on higher marketing spending

KTF, South Korea’s second largest cellco in terms of subscribers, has reported that its net income in the three months ended 30 March 2007 was KRW77.07 billion (USD83.77 million), down 38.5% from a year earlier. Sales rose 12.9% year-on-year to KRW1.76 trillion, but operating profit plummeted 41.1% to KRW100.65 billion. KTF attributed the decline in quarterly earnings to a rise in marketing costs stemming from a recent 3.5G promotion; on 1 March KTF extended coverage of its high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) network across the nation, allowing for faster data transfer and video telephony.