SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) announced its earnings for the year 2010: revenue of KRW 12.460 trillion, operating income of KRW 2.035 trillion and net income of KRW 1.411 trillion. Wireless Internet revenue marked KRW 3.011 trillion representing a 13.2% rise from that of the year 2009.

The revenues increased by 3% compared to the previous year to record KRW 12.460 trillion supported by growth of subscriber number and wireless Internet revenue, mainly attributable to smartphone market boom, despite the introduction of pay-per-second billing and reduction of activation fees.

Operating income stood at KRW 2.035 trillion, down 6.6% compared to 2009, resulting from growth in depreciation cost and temporary increase in fees caused by improved structure of handset installment receivables. Net income recorded KRW 1.411 trillion, representing a 9.5% rise compared to the previous year.

Pursuant to the Marketing Expense Guideline of KCC, marketing expense marked KRW 2.974 trillion. The marketing expense to revenue ratio was 24.2%, down 0.5 percentage point compared to the previous year.

Furthermore, the CapEx for 2010 totaled KRW 1.845 trillion as the company expanded investments in 3G and Wi-Fi networks in response to the rapidly increasing data traffic.

The 2010 cumulative number of subscribers rose by 5.9% compared to 2009 to reach 25.71 million and ARPU edged down by 2.6% to KRW 41,374. ARPU excluding activation fee and connection fee marked KRW 36,204, down 1.5% compared to the previous year, while fourth quarter ARPU excluding activation fee and connection fee was KRW 36,676, up 1.1% quarter-on-quarter.

For the fourth quarter of 2010, the revenues increased by 2.3% year-on-year to mark KRW 3.172 trillion. Also compared to the same period last year, the operating income climbed 2.3% to KRW 453.1 billion and net income increased by 48% to KRW 361.4 billion. Wireless Internet revenue for the fourth quarter of 2010 was KRW 863.5 billion growing by 22.4% year-on-year and 12.4% quarter-on-quarter.

Ha Sung-Min, President and CEO of SK Telecom said, "SK Telecom has firmly maintained its position as the market leader amid countless challenges. In 2011, SK Telecom will make all-out efforts to foster platform business based on the open platform strategy and make it into a strong growth driver like the company’s MNO business."

Ha also stressed that, "SK Telecom will continue to provide stable data services by upgrading and expanding its 3G, LTE, and Wi-Fi networks. At the same time, SK Telecom will refrain from becoming embroiled in the marketing war of attrition and position itself as the market shaper by creating new growth engines."