SK Telecom Earnings: Telco Outlook Is Slowing; Management Focuses on AI

SK Telecom’s 2023 result showed solid earnings growth from its core mobile businesses but signs of revenue slowing as 5G matures. Management continues to aggressively pursue growth in data centers, cloud, and artificial intelligence in an attempt to offset the core business slowdown. 2023 revenue grew 1.8% with mobile growth of 0.9% and other revenue growth of 4.3%. Other revenue growth was helped by data center revenue growth of 30% and cloud revenue growth of 37%. Cost control and operating leverage allowed operating income to grow by 8.8%, with most of it generated from the mobile business.