Seoul: South Korea's second-largest wireless carrier, KT, announced on Tuesday that it swung to a net profit in the fourth quarter, largely due to a base effect from one-off costs recorded a year earlier. In the three months ending December, KT reported a net profit of 91.5 billion won (US$62.7 million), a significant turnaround from a net loss of 769.6 billion won during the same period in 2024, according to regulatory filings.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the dramatic improvement was attributed to the absence of substantial one-off costs that had impacted KT's financials in late 2024. "In the fourth quarter of 2024, the company set aside about 1 trillion won in provisions related to a voluntary retirement program and other one-off payments," a company spokesperson explained. Costs associated with KT's initiative to replace universal subscriber identity modules (USIMs) for all customers, following unauthorized mobile payment breaches, were accounted for in the fourth-quarter results, with major compensation expenses expected to be recorded in the first quarter of 2026.

KT also unveiled plans to invest 1 trillion won over the next five years to overhaul its data security infrastructure, which includes replacing outdated equipment. The company's operating profit for the October-December period reached 227.3 billion won, recovering from an operating loss of 655.1 billion won a year earlier. Sales increased by 4.1 percent on-year to 6.84 trillion won from 6.57 trillion won.

For the entire year, KT's net profit more than quadrupled to 1.83 trillion won from 417.1 billion won in 2024. Operating profit more than tripled to 2.46 trillion won from 809.5 billion won, while annual sales saw a 6.9 percent increase to 28.24 trillion won from 26.43 trillion won. KT attributed these robust annual figures to real estate gains from a development project in northern Seoul and the ongoing expansion in its cloud and data center operations linked to artificial intelligence (AI).

Moreover, sales from KT's core wireless service rose by 3.3 percent compared to the previous year, while its fixed-line business sales saw a modest 0.8 percent increase. In a bid to enhance shareholder value, KT revealed plans to cancel 250 billion won worth of treasury shares this year, as part of a broader strategy to retire 1 trillion won worth of treasury stocks by 2028.