The two largest mobile players in South Korea recorded strong 5G subscriber gains in Q2, with revenue growth driven by their mobile and enterprise units.

KT’s 5G subscribers grew 49.2 per cent year-on-year to 7.5 million, accounting for 53.6 per cent of its total user base which declined 2.9 per cent to just under 14 million, excluding MVNO

Mobile revenue increased 2 per cent to KRW1.6 trillion ($1.3 billion), aided by a 3.2 per cent rise in ARPU to KRW32,308. Handset sales were down 7.1 per cent to KRW641.7 billion.

Net income fell 2 per cent to KRW363.4 billion, with operating revenue up 4.7 per cent to KRW6.3 trillion. Revenue from its MNO business was rising 1.6 per cent to KRW2.4 trillion.

Its media and mobile platform units posted a 2 per cent increase in sales to KRW554.4 billion, while its B2B division grew 6.8 per cent to KRW529.9 billion.

SKT’s 5G subcriber base increased 51.8 per cent to 11.7 million, accounting for 38.6 per cent of its 30.3 million customers.

Mobile revenue rose 2.1 per cent to KRW2.6 trillion, with ARPU flat at KRW30,656.

Metaverse platform Ifland registered 8.7 million total downloads with monthly active users at 1.6 million.

Net profit dropped 67.7 per cent to KRW258.1 billion due to the spin off of its chip business SK Hynix in 2021, with revenue up 4 per cent to KRW2.3 trillion.

The enterprise business, covering data centres and cloud, grew 13.8 per cent to KRW374.3 billion.