KT Stock Rises 35.2% This Year... Highest Increase Among Top 3 Telecom Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Soyeon] KT has shown the most significant stock price increase among the three major telecom companies this year.

According to Daishin Securities on the 25th, KT's stock price has risen by 35.2% since the beginning of the year. KT's stock price, which closed at 24,000 KRW on December 30 last year, closed at 32,450 KRW on the 24th, marking an increase of 8,450 KRW (35.2%).

During the same period, SK Telecom rose by 29.6%, LG Uplus by 26%, while the KOSPI index increased by 251.8 points (8.8%) from 2,873.5 to 3,125.2.

Recently, KT announced that it acquired 100% of the shares of Epsilon, a data-specialized company and a subsidiary of the Malaysian conglomerate Kuok Group. Epsilon operates over 260 PoPs (Points of Presence connecting networks between countries) in 41 cities across 20 countries worldwide. Its major clients include T-Mobile, Vodacom, Telegram, and Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts.

In response, Genie Music, KT Group’s music service and content company, acquired a 39% stake in Millie's Library, the leading subscription-based e-book company in Korea, becoming its largest shareholder. As of May this year, Millie's Library has accumulated 3.5 million subscribers, with a catalog of 100,000 e-books and over 3,000 audiobooks. Genie Music, listed on KOSDAQ, has KT Season, a spin-off from KT’s mobile media business division, as its largest shareholder holding 36% of the shares. The financial investment industry views KT Group’s consecutive M&As positively.

Meanwhile, KT’s 5G leadership is gaining global attention beyond Korea. On the 22nd, KT won the Telecom Service Innovation Award and the Best 5G Core Network Technology Award at the '5G World Awards 2021' held in London, UK. KT has received awards at this ceremony for seven consecutive years since 2015.

This ceremony is organized by the global ICT research institute Informa Telecoms & Media and is recognized worldwide for its prestige. Since 2010, it has selected and awarded companies and services that have achieved innovation and excellence in 11 fields, including telecommunications technology and services, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud technology.

KT, together with Samsung Electronics, developed the technology integrating 5G standalone mode and non-standalone mode for the first time in Korea, and was honored with two awards for commercializing the nationwide 5G standalone mode in July this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.