South Korean multi-service operator (MSO) LG Uplus has revealed a 14.8% year-on-year increase in net profit for the first quarter of 2019, on the back of brisk uptake for its IPTV services. For the three-month period under review, the MSO generated a total turnover of KRW3.02 trillion (USD2.6 billion), representing annualised growth of 1.4%, with service revenues – which were up 1.9% year-on-year at KRW2.31 trillion – accounting for the lion’s share of that. Wireless service revenues were broadly flat against 1Q18, climbing just 0.3% to KRW1.26 trillion, while by comparison ‘Smart Home’ turnover, which included sales of the operator’s IPTV, fixed broadband and VoIP services, rose 13.0% y-o-y rose KRW497.9 billion. Meanwhile, for the first quarter of 2019 LG Uplus reported EBITDA of KRW689.9 billion, compared to KRW604.1 billion in the corresponding period a year earlier, with net income totalling KRW132.6 billion (1Q18: KRW115.5 billion).
In operational terms, as at end-March 2019 LG Uplus had 14.398 million mobile subscribers on its books, up from 13.410 million a year earlier, with 13.684 million of all users now signed up to an LTE-based service. IPTV customers surged to 4.149 million, meanwhile, up from 3.672 million at 30 March 2018, with fixed broadband accesses reaching 4.111 million (Mar-18: 3.881 million). In terms of fixed voice services, PSTN subscribers numbered 517,000 at the end of the latest reporting period, up from 502,000 a year earlier, but down from 530,000 at end-2018, while the operator had 3.942 million VoIP subscribers, down from 4.095 million.