KT cements position as top telecom stock amid SKT’s data breach

A KT official introduces Microsoft Teams Phone at World IT Show 2025 at COEX in Seoul, April 24. Courtesy of KT

KT is extending its strong run as Korea’s top telecommunications stock, boosted by its solid earnings in cloud businesses and renewed investor interest in its telecom operations amid rival SK Telecom’s struggles following a major data breach.

The mobile carrier announced Friday that its sales for the first quarter of this year stood at 6.85 trillion won ($4.86 billion) on a consolidated basis, up 2.9 percent from a year earlier.

The operating profit for the January-March period reached 688.8 billion won, up 36 percent year-on-year.

Much of the improvement was attributed to its cloud businesses. The company said its subsidiary, KT Cloud, posted a 42.2 percent year-on-year revenue growth in the first quarter, driven by balanced growth in cloud and data center businesses.

KT noted that its cloud business strengthened its leadership in the public sector, while revenue from its artificial intelligence (AI) cloud services, based on graphics processing unit infrastructure for enterprise clients, also increased. Its data center sales went up as well, driven by growing demand for colocation services from global customers.

Its real estate business also contributed to the improvement. In March, residents began moving into a Lotte apartment complex built on KT’s former operation center site in northern Seoul. As a result, a portion of the revenue and profit from the apartment sales was reflected in the company’s first-quarter earnings, KT said.

In the first quarter, KT’s flagship businesses including, wireless telecommunication services and fixed-line internet, recorded 1 percent growth, but market watchers are optimistic about the second quarter, noting the potential inflow of customers from SK Telecom following its recent data breach.

The improvements are expected to extend the company’s strong run in stock price.

KT’s stock price has shown strong growth over the past six months, rising 23.6 percent from 41,100 won on Nov. 8 to 50,800 won on May 8. On March 19, it closed at 50,700 won, surpassing the 50,000 won mark for the first time in 15 years.

Amid the upturn, and for the first time in 22 years, KT became Korea’s largest telecommunications stock on Jan. 24, with a market capitalization of 11.85 trillion won, outpacing rival SK Telecom with 11.77 trillion won.

Since then, the two telecoms have been locked in a neck-and-neck race for the top spot, but as of May 8, KT outpaced SK Telecom, with a market capitalization of 12.8 trillion won compared to SK Telecom’s 11.4 trillion won.

This was attributable to the sharp decline in SK Telecom’s market value following a major data breach, which became public on April 22. On April 21, the day before the breach was disclosed, KT’s market cap stood at 12.5 trillion won, while SK Telecom’s was slightly ahead at 12.46 trillion won.

KT’s stock rally has been largely driven by its program to increase value announced in November last year, which includes share buybacks and cancellations. Under the plan, KT plans to buy back and cancel 1 trillion won worth of treasury shares through 2028.

Favorable mid-term earnings expectations also contributed to KT’s recent stock performance.

Along with the stable performance of its wireless and fixed-line businesses, KT plans to accelerate its transition into an AI transformation service provider in the second quarter through a strategic partnership with Microsoft.

“This year, KT will secure growth drivers in the business-to-business AI transformation sector, accelerating its transition into an AI company,” KT Chief Financial Officer Jang Min said.