This article is by Jeong Jae-hong and read by an artificial voice.

SK Telecom's operating profit fell 90.9 percent in the third quarter to 48.4 billion won ($34.1 million) from a year earlier, as the fallout from a massive hacking incident earlier this year hit earnings, the mobile carrier said Thursday.
Revenue dropped 12.2 percent year-on-year to 3.98 trillion won, while the company swung to a net loss of 166.7 billion won from a profit a year earlier.
The company said it would not distribute a dividend for the third quarter.
SK Telecom said the steep decline stemmed from revenue losses tied to compensation measures following a large-scale data breach and personal information leak that came to light in April.
In July, the carrier waived contract termination fees, leading to a higher customer churn rate, and in August, it launched a 50 percent mobile fee discount and other compensation programs that further hurt sales.
Since August, the company has also rolled out a "customer appreciation package" valued at about 500 billion won, offering mobile bill discounts, additional data and partner benefits. The 1.35 trillion won fine imposed by the Personal Information Protection Commission further weighed on earnings.
Still, SK Telecom said the telecom business showed signs of recovery compared with the second quarter, when the hacking crisis first came to light. The number of 5G subscribers rose by 240,000 to 17.26 million in the third quarter, while broadband subscribers also returned to growth.
In the artificial intelligence division, sales jumped 35.7 percent from a year earlier. The AI data center business generated 149.8 billion won in revenue thanks to the acquisition of a data center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi, and new graphics processing unit (GPU) rental contracts, while revenue from AI transformation services reached 55.7 billion won.
SK Telecom has also begun construction of a new AI data center in Ulsan in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and signed an agreement with OpenAI to build a dedicated AI data center in Korea's southwest region.
Kim Yang-seob, SK Telecom's chief financial officer, said the company would focus on regaining customer trust and expanding its AI business.
"We will make restoring customer confidence our top priority and turn the crisis into an opportunity by achieving tangible results in the AI sector," he said.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

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