In the three months ended 31 March 2016 South Korea’s LG Uplus generated a total turnover of KRW2.713 trillion (USD2.25 billion), representing a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 6.1%, with wireless service revenue accounting for the bulk of this – KRW2.175 trillion, up from KRW2.113 trillion in the corresponding quarter of 2015. Handset revenues increased by 21% against 1Q15, rising to KRW537.8 billion. By comparison, traditional fixed telephony turnover fell 6.0%, to KRW95.1 trillion in 1Q16, while revenues from the company’s VoIP services declined by 5.7% to KRW63.8 trillion. A better performance was reported in both the fixed broadband and IPTV sectors, with revenues from the former totalling KRW175 trillion in the first quarter of 2016 (up 4.0%), while the latter generated KRW143.6 trillion (up 26.1%).
EBITDA for the multi-service operator iin the period under review totalled KRW573.6 billion, up 4.8% y-o-y, with the EBITDA margin being 21.1%, down marginally from 21.4% twelve months earlier. In part as a result of reduced marketing expenses, which were down 5.2% y-o-y, the operator posted a net income of KRW110.1 billion, compared to KRW82.2 billion in 1Q15.
LG Uplus’ wireless subscriber base increased by 4.7% over the year to end-March 2016 to reach 12.104 million, of which 10.190 million were signed up to the operator’s LTE-based services, compared to 8.906 million a year earlier. Fixed broadband accesses numbered 3.520 million at the end of the latest reporting period, an increase of more than 15% y-o-y, while the number of IPTV subscribers rose by a similar percentage to reach 2.355 million. VoIP customer numbers were also up, increasing by 2.1% against end-March 2015 to stand at 4.543 million.