Good morning and good evening. Thank you all for joining this conference call, and now we will begin the conference of the fiscal year 2025 third quarter earnings results by LG Uplus. This conference will start with a presentation followed by a divisional Q&A session. Our call is being webcasted on our home page so that you can follow the conference simultaneously. Today's conference call will be presented for one hour, and due to schedule, we would appreciate if questions are limited to two per person. Now we will begin the presentation on LG Uplus's third quarter of fiscal year 2025 earnings results.
[Foreign Language]
Good afternoon, this is Sung Hyunm o, Head of the IR Team at LG Uplus. Thank you for joining our third quarter 2025 earnings report of LG Uplus. Please follow along the presentation that we've previously circulated, and for the benefit of ease of comparison, we're presenting revenue breakdown and operating expense on the basis that excludes LG Hello Vision. Also, be reminded that all of the projections we are providing today are subject to change depending on macroeconomic and market backdrop. We will also be providing consecutive interpretation for the benefit of overseas investors. We will now begin with Q3 performance highlights followed by Q&A. I will now turn it over to CFO Yeo Myung-h ee, who will run through the third quarter 2025 earnings and business results.
[Foreign Language]
Good afternoon, this is CFO Yeo Myung-h ee. Thank you to analysts and investors for joining the third quarter 2025 earnings call for LG Uplus.
[Foreign Language]
Driven by growth of its mobile business, LG Uplus in Q3 reported solid earnings. Although there was one-off labor cost following ERP, excluding this impact, operating profit sustained an year-over-year uptrend following the trajectory of the first half of the year.
[Foreign Language]
The early retirement package forms part of the accelerating trend of digital transformation, along with voluntary participation of our employees. We will continue to make our business structure lightweight through digital innovation and make sure to bring visible improvements in profitability.
[Foreign Language]
On top of profit-driven performance from our core businesses, we focused on strengthening business competitiveness by leveraging our AX capabilities while accelerating innovation based on our telecom infrastructure and customer touchpoints.
[Foreign Language]
We are also making service upgrades to ixi-O, which is creating new customer experience driven by the use of voice call data, and are tapping into global market expansion. For AICC, we're focusing on improving productivity of our own customer service centers, and based on the know-how, we're expanding business opportunities externally. In IDC business, we brought tangible results through the DBO project, and internally across the business workflow, we're deploying AI agents for the dual benefit of operational efficiency and gaining of future competitiveness.
[Foreign Language]
I will now move on to the details of Q3 2025 financials.
[Foreign Language]
Service revenue in Q3 posted 4.2% growth year-on-year on both consolidated and separate bases, respectively. Q3 consolidated operating profit was down 34.3% year-on-year to KRW 161.7 billion. Excluding the one-off impact following the ERP package, operating profit will be KRW 311.7 billion, up 26.7% year-over-year, a 63.6% decrease compared to the same period last year. Due to the partial reflection of non-recurring expenses, the decrease in operating income appeared somewhat larger, c onsolidated net profit was down 63.6% YoY, reporting KRW 49.1 billion. This is due to non-recurring one-off items pushing down on net profit more so than the decline in operating profit.
[Foreign language]
EBITDA was also down by 9.7% YoY due to one-time labor cost impact, reporting KRW 831.3 billion.
[Foreign langauge]
Consolidated debt-to-equity ratio improved by 5.8 percentage points from end of 2024, recording 119%. Q3 2025 CapEx spend was KRW 438.1 billion, down 2.2% versus last year.
[Foreign langauge]
That was on the financials. Next, on results and outlook from each business.
[Foreign langauge]
First, on the mobile business, this is Kang Jin-wook, Head of Mobile and Digital Innovations Group. Q3 mobile service revenue posted 5.2% year-over-year growth, recording KRW 1,627.2 billion.
[Foreign language]
Total mobile subscription count was up 8.6% year-over-year to 30,259,000 lines, driven mostly by MNO and MVNO growth of 5.4% and 16.8%, respectively. 5G handset subscription sustained an uptrend, with penetration reaching 81.6%.
[Foreign language]
Q3 marketing spend increased 5.2% year-over-year to KRW 585.2 billion on the back of subscriber growth. Share of marketing spend against service revenue came in flat year-over-year at 20.1% as we focused on gaining market cost efficiencies.
[Foreign language]
LG Uplus ranked number one in mobile communication category for two consecutive years in the 2025 Digital Customer Experience Index hosted by the Korean Standards Association back in September. We received high ratings in the categories of customer-centric digital strategy and service innovation and was recognized for enhancing service offering through the digitalization of communication channels, enabling customers to tangibly experience improved convenience and new benefits. Going forward, we will leverage AI to strengthen personalized digital experience by designing intuitive screen layout, bringing simpler and immersive changes to the user's digital journey.
[Foreign langauge]
We also introduced ixi-O 2.0 with more personalized features added to the AI call assistant ixi-O. We added AI dialogue search and AI smart summary to enhance user convenience as the agent provides answers to queries based on the contextual understanding, which go beyond simple recording or performing of repetitive tasks. With this update, LG Uplus will scale up its services to evolve ixi-O not as a call assistant but as a hyper-personalized AI agent.
[Foreign language]
LG Uplus will endeavor to provide comfort and convenience to our customers through AI innovation and development of differentiated services and will deliver a diverse range of meaningful value to our customers through rollout of services best meeting customer needs.
[Foreign language]
Next is on smart home business, and I'm Park Chan-s eung, Head of Home Business Group.
[Foreign language]
Q3 smart home revenue was up 3.5% year-on-year, reporting KRW 673.4 billion. On the persisting impact from home shopping and VOD revenue declines, IPTV revenue was down 0.4% year-over-year, while internet revenue was up 8.4% year-over-year, reporting KRW 311.3 billion, driven by Giga Internet subscriber growth.
[Foreign language]
Subscriber count was up year-over-year for both IPTV subscribers, growing 3.3% to 5.739 million and broadband internet subscribers went up by 4.3%, reaching 5.541 million.
[Foreign language]
In Q3, our smart home business ranked number one in KCSI customer satisfaction assessment in internet and IPTV categories, thanks to customer experience innovation, which was a testament to best-in-class service quality and value of experience.
[Foreign language]
In broadband internet, we strengthened preemptive care by delivering self-troubleshooting support based on early detection of potential user inconveniences by analyzing Wi-Fi quality using AI technology. Outcome of such efforts earned us 2025 WBA Industry Award in October.
[Foreign language]
We also improved workflow efficiency by using ixi-O-based AI assistant at sites for home service installation and after-sales services. AI assistant is trained on home service manual powered by AI and gives most optimal solutions through dialogue that happens in real time. This, in turn, enables structured and professional customer services.
[Foreign language]
LG Uplus smart home business will prioritize customer-centric value to strengthen market competitiveness and continue to scale up services driven by AI technologies.
[Foreign language]
Next is on enterprise infrastructure, and I'm Ahn Hyung-gyun, Head of Enterprise AI Business Group.
[Foreign language]
Q3 revenue for enterprise infrastructure was KRW 427.9 billion, up 1.8% year-on-year.
[Foreign language]
AIDC revenue increased 14.5% year-on-year on the back of new customers moving into Pyeongchon number two center, which drove up utilization and revenue recognition from DBO projects supporting the revenue stream. Enterprise line revenue fell 2.2%, while solutions business declined 0.7% due to the transfer of EV charging business, despite growth in broadcast messaging.
[Foreign language]
Market interest and demand for data center infrastructures have been expanding steadily due to higher demand for AI cloud. As such, we've built a new AI data center in Paju for our AIDC business as we continue to expand the colocation business.
[Foreign language]
For the DBO business, which we began this year, we entered into an O&M contract for K Square Gasan Data Center with Coramco Asset Management, booking DBO revenue starting the third quarter. We will collaborate with Coramco on a multiple number of future projects for building and operating data centers and expand the scope of AIDC business.
[Foreign language]
Enterprise infrastructure business is planning to strengthen growth upside and profitability with AIDC as its core driver for growth. Amid the rapidly evolving AI-driven market, we will leverage our competitiveness in IDC infrastructure and digital capabilities to flexibly respond to diverse customer needs and grow as a leading B2B partner in the AX era.
[Foreign language]
We will now invite our CFO back for outlook for Q4 and beyond.
[Foreign language]
There were concerns over competition deepening in the wake of repeal of the Hansa Subsidy Act last July, but since July, markets started to stabilize and we are seeing a moderate trend continuing. Through rigorous ROI analysis, we plan to maximize marketing spend efficiency and strengthen core competitive edge underpinned by innovation of digital-driven distribution system and service differentiation.
[Foreign language]
On the back of last year's corporate value enhancement plan, we are preparing for disclosure of implementation progress before the end of November. Our goal of profit enhancement and stronger shareholder return leading to sustainable shareholder value and corporate value enhancement remain unchanged.
[Foreign language]
For shareholder return policy, LG Uplus adopted a progressive approach to total shareholder return and will maximize shareholder value by employing both share buyback and cancellation. By reducing the number of free floats, we can gain additional upside in terms of DPS, and we will stick to the policy of not reducing total dividend payout.
[Foreign language]
We believe starting 2026, as impact from efficiency gains on the cost side, including labor cost savings, are expected to come through, we will have some visibility on dividend increase based on operational earnings improvement.
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We will closely listen to the voices of investors and make decisions through a transparent process that benefits long-term shareholder value so as to grow into a company worth the trust.
[Foreign language]
LG Uplus will solidify our fundamentals, including service quality, safety, and cybersecurity, until the end of the year, and carry on with profit-centric management for core businesses and drive AX innovation so that we can close the year with meaningful results. Thank you.
[Foreign language]
This ends the presentation. We are now open for questions.
[Foreign language]
Now Q&A session will begin. Please press star one, that is star and one, if you have any questions. Questions will be taken according to the order you have pressed the number star one. For cancellation, please press star two, that is star and two on your phone.
[Foreign language]
The first question will be provided by Hyun-Jo ng Kim from Hyundai Motor Securities. Please go ahead with your question.
[Foreign language]
Thank you for taking my question. I am Kim Hyun-Jong from Hyundai Motor Security. Would like to ask you two questions. First is on your outlook for earnings in Q4. Do you think that you will continue to benefit from the situation that your competitors are currently facing? It would be helpful if you could provide some guidance for that, as well as for the 2026 annual guidance, at least in a rough range. Second question is, you've talked about the one-off labor cost items impacting KRW 150 billion in total. If you convert that 2% against the total headcount of the company, what would that percentage be? Also to next year, to what extent, or what is the size of the savings you will be able to drive from such labor cost impact?
[Foreign language]
Responding to your question, this is the CFO. Regarding the guidance for 2026, we will be able to respond to the question in the upcoming earnings call next time around. Moving on to the Q4 outlook. For this year, the guidance was on a consolidated basis, service revenue growth of above 2%. As of Q3, on a cumulative basis, we've recorded 2.8%. We believe that we can quite smoothly achieve the target that we set previously.
[Foreign language]
Now, looking at each of the business areas, if you look at mobile service revenue, it grew by 5.2% on a year-over-year basis, actually recording the highest growth rate since 2021. If you look at our smart home business, the growth and the high-value internet subscribers have actually driven that growth uptrend, posting a growth of 3.5% year-over-year. For the enterprise infrastructure business inside the AIDC business, we've seen expansion of the DBO business and also the increase in the utilization, which supported a solid growth trend.
[Foreign language]
Now, talking about the profit side, in the third quarter, because of the ERP package, there was a one-off labor cost impact of KRW 150 billion. On a consolidated operating profit basis, there was a decline quite significant on a year-over-year basis. If you were to exclude this one-off impact, the earnings was quite similar YoY flat, excuse me, Q on Q flat compared to the second quarter of this year. We continued on with an uptrend of more than double digit on a year-over-year basis.
[Foreign language]
As we move into the fourth quarter, we will ensure a steady top-line growth and also realign our known core businesses, focusing on the efficiency and optimizing resource allocation so that we can overall drive up business operations efficiency. That is the strategy that we are currently working under. Especially if you look at AI technology, we're very proactively going to incorporate and adopt AI tech and speed up this digital transformation. From a longer-term perspective, we will improve on our cost competitiveness, and we think that AI will play an important role in terms of the engine for growth into the future. Through such change, we're going to innovate our business structure so that we could drive improvement in profitability and really firmly lay the basis for future growth.
[Foreign language]
Regarding the ERP impact of KRW 150 billion, within the organization, we have a total headcount of 10,000. Those who took out the ERP represent about 6%. If you do the calculation, that's 600. If you, once again, do the calculation, you will be able to gain a rough idea as to how much of a cost reduction that will bring us next year.
[Foreign language]
Next question.
[Foreign language]
The following question will be presented by Jeon-Seok Kim KB Securities . Please go ahead with your question.
[Foreign language]
Thank you for taking my question. I am Kim Jeon-Soek from KB Securities. My two questions relate to AI business and AI technology. First is on AIDC. After the APEC Summit meeting, there's been heightened interest on data centers. I know that there's also a high level of interest on LG Uplus' for instance, Pyeongchon e-Center number two center and DBO business. Would like to gain some understanding as to what we can expect going forward in the second half of the year. If you could highlight some of the initiatives under your data center business, that would be quite helpful. Second question is on your AI service strategy. It seems like that your AI strategy is in conflict with the company's approach to controlling cost and focusing on profitability. Is that the case? For the AI service, would you not focus on expanding the AI services aspect?
It would be helpful if you could provide some more color on what your strategy and approach is when it comes to AI strategy. .
[Foreign language]
This is Ahn Hyung-gyun. I'm the Head of Enterprise AI Business Group. Now, if you look at our AIDC business and Q3 earnings figure, we reported a 14.5% year-over-year growth. The reason why we've seen elevated level of growth is because of the higher utilization coming from the Pyeongchon number two center, as well as the DBO business that we are providing for the Gasan IDC center. We started booking those revenues. If you typically look at a data center based upon the plan of the corporate tenants, they would be moving in; they would be moving into the IDC center on a consecutive basis. The moving in actually started from the first half of 2024, and by the first half of this year, 2025, we had big corporates already moving into that IDC center and occupying the data center.
Because of that, that had had an impact, a positive impact that is, in the growth of the AIDC revenue starting the third quarter. Also, starting Q3, we started providing operational services for data center Gasan, which is owned by Koramco Asset Management, and we started booking DBO revenue. Driven by the increase in the utilization of our data center on top of the impact coming from the DBO business, we believe that going forward also for the second half of 2025, there will be a significant improvement in terms of top line versus the first half of the year.
[Foreign language]
In terms of our AI service strategy, you've asked what our strategic approach is. Are we to focus on profitability and margin, or have we adopted a strategy of expansion? It will be hard to say that one over the other, but what I can say is, when it comes to our AI services strategy, first on B2C, we will focus on ixi-O so that we could scale up and upgrade the services that we offer. In terms of the B2B, we will leverage our AI technology as well as AX capabilities to really beef up our business competitiveness. For instance, for AICC within Uplus, we have our customer service centers, and we're at this point really focusing to drive its productivity. Based upon the know-how that we will be able to build, we are at this point expanding business opportunities outside.
[Foreign language]
Also, last July, we entered into a partnership arrangement with OpenAI, and we are jointly developing an AICC product that adopts a subscription model. Together with the government, we are participating in a project whereby we are working to develop a homegrown AI foundation model.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
There are no questions in the queue right now.
[Foreign language]
Since there are no more questions, we would like to end the call for LG Uplus's third quarter 2025 earnings presentation. We will be more than happy to respond to any unanswered questions. Please feel free to contact us at the IR team. Thank you very much for your time.