$KT

SK Telecom said Q2 revenue edged up 0.5% to 4.3591T won and operating profit rose 67.3% to 566B won, helped by lower one-off costs. Its AI data center business jumped 92.5% to 136.2B won. KT reported revenue 6.6799T won (-10.1%) and operating profit 648.3B won (-36.1%), but AI transformation revenue rose 22.3%. LG Uplus revenue fell 3.9% to 3.69T won, while operating profit rose 13.1% to 344.5B won, with AIDC revenue up 28.9% to 124.1B won.

KT said it completed a next-generation AI contact center project for NongHyup Bank in South Korea. The 40 billion won initiative links an AI call bot to the bank’s core systems, expanding AI-handled tasks and improving STT accuracy to about 97%. KT also built a portal to manage video, chat, and email consultations, cutting wait and processing times by about 20% and reducing agent workload.

KT said it expanded its AI-based real-time spam blocking service to all customers, including MVNO users, starting July 29. The pilot covered 800,000 customers using high sensitivity. KT reported a stable false positive rate of 0.003% as of Aug. 3, with zero customer inquiries and a 3.5% rise in spam blocks. A real-time notification service is planned for this month.

KT lost 232,901 mobile subscribers via South Korea’s number portability market in Jan-Jul, while SK Telecom gained 156,842 and LG U+ gained 57,930, according to KTOA data. KT’s outflows were linked to last year’s personal information leak and femtocell-related micropayment fraud. KT also faces a 53.98 billion won fine and has a Q2 operating profit consensus of 603.5 billion won.

Vodafone agreed to buy CK Hutchison’s 49% stake in VodafoneThree, completing a £4.3bn deal and giving Vodafone full UK control. VodafoneThree plans £11bn UK investment over 10 years. KT Corp was fined 54bn won ($37.4m) by South Korea’s regulator for a data breach. France may sell up to €1bn of Orange shares. Openreach warned UK PSTN switch-off on 31 Jan 2027; AT&T launched a 5G SA core for FirstNet; Proximus Q2 EBITDA fell 4.2% to €470m.

South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission fined KT Corporation KRW 53.979 billion (about $39 million) for a data breach lasting Oct 8, 2024 to Sep 5, 2025. The regulator said attackers accessed subscriber data for 11 months, exposing 16,647 customers and enabling fraudulent mobile payments of KRW 240 million. It cited weak femtocell certificate controls and delayed malware reporting.

South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission fined KT Corp. ₩53.97 billion (about $37.6 million) and referred KT and LG Uplus to criminal investigators. KT allegedly deleted access logs from 10 malware-infected servers after a femtocell breach. Regulators also found BPFDoor malware on 38 KT servers and cited LG Uplus for delayed reporting and alleged evidence handling.

South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission fined KT 53.979 billion won after a hacking incident using illegal femtocells led to personal data leakage for about 16,000 KT users and unauthorized micro-payments to 368 victims totaling about 240 million won, according to the PIPC. KT said it will invest 4 trillion won in security over three years.

South Korea’s privacy regulator fined KT Corp. 53.98 billion won ($37.4 million) for an August data breach tied to inadequate security of its femtocell system. The breach exposed 16,647 subscribers’ IDs and phone numbers and led to unauthorized mobile payments for 368 users, with losses of about 240 million won. The PIPC also cited malware on servers and possible log deletion, and may refer the case for criminal investigation.

KT Commerce said it upgraded NegoWiz, its AI solution that automates B2B price negotiations between buyers and sellers. The update adds self-learning strategy selection, dynamic anchoring of target prices, and expanded data tracking (e.g., supplier response and agreement rates). KT Commerce plans to validate in real purchasing work and expand AI automation across the purchase lifecycle.