SK Broadband swings to Q4 loss on higher costs

SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- SK Broadband Co., South Korea's second-largest operator
of broadband Internet, said Friday it swung to a loss in the fourth quarter due
to increased costs.
Net loss came to 66.3 billion won (US$48.1 million) in the October-December
period, compared with a net profit of 7.3 billion won a year earlier, the company
said in a regulatory filing.
Sales fell 9.6 percent on-year to 442 billion won and operating loss was 43.6
billion won, compared with an operating profit of 24.5 billion won a year
earlier, it said.
Last week, SK Broadband reported a net loss of 98.8 billion won for all of 2008,
compared with a net profit of 7.2 billion won a year ago. Its operating loss came
in at 22 billion won, compared with an operating profit of 81 billion won the
previous year.
SK Broadband attributed the fourth-quarter loss mainly to higher marketing costs
resulting from the change of the company name and identity.
SK Telecom bought Hanarotelecom Inc. in September last year and renamed it SK
Broadband
The company also said it experienced a drop in subscribers after it was banned in
late June from signing new customers for 40 days due to illegal trading of
customer information. At the end of December, it had 3.5 million subscribers.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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