SK Telecom Sees Core Business Growth With Noncore to Boost That Growth

SK Telecom's telecom market position is very strong, and we like the free cash flow it generates. SK Telecom was Korea's first wireless operator, and we believe it has done a good job of maintaining a dominant position. The firm continues to claim just under 45% wireless market share, including the leading position among postpaid contract customers, which provides it with the highest average revenue per user among Korean wireless operators. However, this has come at a cost with wireless operating profit nearly halving between 2017 and 2019. More pleasing has been the wireless operating profit growth reported in 2020 and 2021 as competition seems to have stabilized with 5G generating incremental revenue.