Key Themes of This Year's Shareholders' Meetings for the Three Major Telecom Companies

Further Discussion on Adding New Business Objectives
Interest in Increasing Dividends for Shareholder Returns

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] The shareholder meetings of the three major mobile carriers?SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus?are set to begin. Key agenda items will include fostering new businesses and enhancing shareholder value.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 15th, LG Uplus will hold its shareholder meeting on the 18th, followed by SK Telecom on the 25th, and KT on the 31st. This year’s key point to watch is the expansion of the ‘MyData (Personal Credit Information Management)’ business. SK Telecom and KT will discuss amendments to their articles of incorporation to add MyData-related business purposes.

Adding ‘MyData’ Business Purpose

SK Telecom received a preliminary license for MyData from the Financial Services Commission last month and is awaiting the final approval. SK Telecom plans to provide financial services utilizing MyData. The company intends to offer various customized products and services based on customers’ personal credit information. Expansion into new business areas such as healthcare and the metaverse (extended virtual world), which SK Telecom is currently pursuing, is also under consideration.

KT applied for a preliminary license last November. It plans to expand its business based on its financial affiliates such as BC Card and K Bank. LG Uplus also applied for a preliminary MyData license in January. In addition to the integrated asset management and expenditure management services commonly offered by existing MyData operators, LG Uplus is preparing new services such as ‘Due Date Alerts’ to prevent overdue payments, ‘Cash Flow Notifier’ to manage cash flow, ‘Credit Booster’ to easily and conveniently improve personal credit scores, and ‘Hidden Benefits Finder’ to discover unknown benefits.

Protecting Existing Shareholders and Increasing Dividends

Shareholder return policies are also attracting attention. KT plans to amend its articles of incorporation to establish grounds for in-kind dividends of subsidiary shares. KT will separate its cloud and internet data center (IDC) businesses through in-kind capital contributions and establish KT Cloud, a wholly owned subsidiary. To protect existing shareholders, KT plans to distribute shares of the newly established subsidiary as in-kind dividends to KT shareholders.

LG Uplus will increase its dividend to 350 KRW per share at this shareholder meeting. Earlier, LG Uplus announced plans to raise its dividend payout ratio from ‘30% or more’ of separate net income to ‘40% or more’ starting this year. The proposal to pay year-end dividends of 150.4 billion KRW (350 KRW per share) for 2021 will be voted on. Including the interim dividend of 87.1 billion KRW, last year’s total dividends amounted to 237.5 billion KRW, a 20.9% increase from the previous year (196.4 billion KRW).

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