Seoul: SK Telecom Co., South Korea's leading wireless service provider, announced a slight decrease of 0.1 percent in its first-quarter net profit, owing to increased corporate taxes. The company reported that its net profit for the three months ending in March was 361.6 billion won (US$258.3 million), marginally down from 361.9 billion won in the same period last year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the decline in net profit was attributed to the expiration of special depreciation provisions, as stated by a company spokesperson. Despite this, SK Telecom experienced a 13.8 percent rise in operating profit, reaching 567.4 billion won in the January-March period, up from 498.5 billion won a year ago. This growth was driven by robust revenue in its artificial intelligence businesses, including AI data centers and AI transformation, alongside its fixed-line segment. The company noted a steady increase in demand for its AI solutions from corporate clients, which bolstered its AIX division.

Sales experienced a slight decline of 0.5 percent, falling to 4.45 trillion won from 4.47 trillion won during the same period. In a separate announcement, SK Telecom reaffirmed its dedication to strengthening customer protection and rebuilding trust following a recent data breach. The breach involved a significant leak of universal subscriber identity module (USIM) data, impacting its entire user base of 25 million, which constitutes about half of South Korea's domestic market.

In response, the company has heightened its fraud detection system to its highest operational level to block abnormal authentication attempts. Additionally, SK Telecom has automatically enrolled eligible users in its USIM card protection service and initiated free USIM card replacements. As of May 11, 1.47 million users had completed the replacement process.