KT Corp. reported a 36 percent surge in first-quarter 2025 operating profit, which was driven by steady gains in its mobile, broadband, and cloud businesses alongside a one-time real estate revenue.

KT said on Friday that its consolidated operating profit for the January to March period rose to 688.8 billion won ($490 million), beating market expectations by 1.7 percent. Revenue grew 2.9 percent on-year to 6.85 trillion won, while net income increased 44.2 percent to 566.8 billion won.

The company say that strong growth in mobile and internet subscriptions helped sustain revenue momentum. KT also booked real estate revenue from the partial occupancy of the Lotte East Pole apartment complex near Gubeundang Station, which was developed via its affiliate NextConnect PFV.

In the mobile sector, revenue rose 1 percent from a year earlier, backed by increased adoption of 5G and a rise in budget mobile service users. As of the first quarter, 5G accounted for 78.9 percent of all device subscriptions.

Broadband revenue climbed 1.3 percent thanks to a growing user base for premium internet and bundled services, while fixed-line revenue dropped 10.5 percent due to waning household demand.

KT’s media business inched up 0.1 percent, supported by premium IPTV plans and expanded set-top box use. Enterprise services revenue declined 0.3 percent due to streamlining of low-margin businesses, although demand for AI call centers and IT integration lifted related sales by 10.2 percent.

The cloud division saw standout growth, with revenue soaring 42.2 percent on-year thanks to robust demand across both cloud and data center segments. AI cloud infrastructure, including GPU-based services for enterprise clients, also posted gains.

KT Estate secured a stable income base after fully selling out 860 housing units under development at its Daejeon training center site. BC Card, KT’s financial unit, recorded higher profit as it expanded card issuance and financial platform services. Online bank business K Bank reported 13.63 million users as of March 2025, up 32 percent from a year earlier. Deposits grew 15.9 percent to 27.8 trillion won and loans rose 14.8 percent to 16.9 trillion won.

KT plans to accelerate its transformation into an AICT (AI + ICT) company in the second quarter of 2025, supported by a strategic alliance with Microsoft and launching a new delivery division called AXD to offer consulting and engineering services by industry in March 2025. It is also preparing to release a Korean-trained AI model and secure public cloud solution in partnership with Microsoft.

The company will collaborate with Palantir, with which it signed a partnership in March, to further strengthen its AI transformation product portfolio.

KT also disclosed progress on its corporate value enhancement plan, which aims to achieve a 9 to 10 percent return on equity (ROE) by 2028. As part of this strategy, KT sold off non-core affiliates Initech and Play.D, and initiated a 250 billion won share buyback and cancellation program in February.

The company raised its dividend payout for the first quarter by 20 percent, paying 600 won per share on April 30th, 2025.

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