SK Telecom CFO Poong-Young Yoon has revealed that the telecom operator is aiming for increase in ARPU as 5G subscriber base is expected to reach 2 million this year and 7 million in 2020.

SK Telecom is the first mobile service provider in the world to confirm that it will be aiming to achieve growth in ARPU – primarily due to the launch of 5G services.

SK Telecom’s ARPU achieved a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.4 percent to KRW30,755 in the second quarter of 2019. SK Telecom said it will be targeting year on year increase in its ARPU thanks to the adoption of 5G subscribers.

SK Telecom in April announced that its 5G price will be cheaper than its LTE package. 5G offers more speed than 4G in Korea’s select towns and crowded places.

SK Telecom has the widest 5G network coverage in Korea. The telecom operator has built 34,000 units of 5G base stations in the country.

SK Telecom will expand 5G network coverage to nationwide subways, national parks and festival sites — in the second half of 2019.

SK Telecom, which launched the world’s first 5G commercial network on April 3, added 530,000 5G subscribers by June-end and expects to exceed the 1 million subscriber mark in August.

SK Telecom is currently pursuing an efficient coverage expansion strategy by building four main clusters, namely, service, major commercial areas, summer and B2B. “We will continue our efforts to provide the highest quality and differentiated level of 5G service,” SK Telecom CFO Poong-Young Yoon said during the earnings call.

Verizon and AT&T, two leading telecom operators in the United States, earlier claimed that they launched 5G mobile network before SK Telecom. Both Verizon and AT&T are yet to reveal their 5G subscriber base.

SK Telecom earlier announced that the Capex for 2019 is expected to be about 30 percent to 40 percent higher than that of last year.

SK Telecom’s total revenue for Q2 2019 recorded KRW4,437 billion with 6.8 percent year-on-year and by 2.4 percent quarter-on-quarter growth with the MNO revenue turning around and media and security businesses continuing to grow.

Operating income recorded KRW322.8 billion, while operating cost slightly increased due to the 5G service launch. Net income recorded KRW259.1 billion, down 71.7 percent year-on-year and 13.7 percent quarter-on-quarter.

Baburajan K