SK Telecom stated that the hacking attack, which resulted in the theft of subscriber identification device (USIM) information, will inevitably have a negative impact on its finances. However, in response to a question about changes to the shareholder return policy, it noted that there will be no change to the basic principles.
Kim Yang-seop, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of SK Telecom, said during a conference call following the announcement of the 2025 first-quarter results on the 12th, "Assuming that the USIM replacement costs will be incurred for all 24 million customers, we are accelerating our procurement as much as possible." He added, "There may be financial negative impacts due to the suspension of number porting and new customer recruitment, but the extent of this will vary depending on future circumstances." He continued, "Potential expenses, such as penalty surcharges, can also be considered, but whether costs will arise and their magnitude will be determined based on the results of ongoing investigations by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Personal Information Protection Commission."
Regarding changes to the shareholder return policy due to the hacking incident, he said, "While we believe that there will be unavoidable financial impacts, there are still many aspects we cannot measure in terms of scale," adding, "At present, there is no change in the basic principle of maintaining stable dividends."
SK Telecom has decided to set its dividends at 830 won per share for the first quarter of this year. The record date for dividends is May 31. The company changed its procedures to specify the record date for dividends after the dividend amount is confirmed, as decided at the regular general shareholders' meeting held in March.
SK Telecom announced that its consolidated first-quarter results for this year showed revenue of 4.4537 trillion won, operating profit of 567.4 billion won, and net profit of 361.6 billion won. Compared to the same period last year, revenue decreased by 0.5%, while operating profit increased by 13.8%. Net profit declined by 0.1% compared to the first quarter of last year.