SKT to Advance Payment of 132 Billion KRW to Partners Ahead of Chuseok

SKT Tower exterior. Photo by SKT

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] SK Telecom announced on the 1st that ahead of Chuseok, it plans to make early payments totaling approximately 132 billion KRW before the start of the holiday in collaboration with ICT family companies such as SK Broadband and SK Stoa to help reduce the financial burden on its business partners.

The ICT family, including SKT, will make early payments of about 52 billion KRW to approximately 1,100 small and medium-sized partners such as network equipment and maintenance companies, and about 80 billion KRW to around 270 agencies nationwide.

SKT stated that it decided to make early payments to assist small business partners responsible for network equipment, maintenance, and service operations, who have been dedicated to maintaining service quality despite the COVID-19 situation, in managing their funds smoothly ahead of the holiday. Through this, the total amount SKT has paid early to small and medium-sized partners this year reaches 480 billion KRW.

Additionally, SKT is operating the interest support rate for loans to excellent partners through the Win-Win Growth Fund, raising it by 0.93 percentage points from the previous rate to help alleviate the financial burden of small and medium-sized partners facing increased financial pressure due to the recent sharp economic downturn and interest rate hikes.

The Win-Win Growth Fund operates by SKT contributing funds to a bank, which deposits the funds and uses the interest earned on the deposits to support lower loan interest rates and emergency loans for business partners.

In particular, SKT supports ESG management practices by providing free ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) assessments and participating in 'ESG Happy Plogging' (an activity of picking up trash while jogging) together with business partners, as well as offering consulting related to compliance with the Serious Accident Punishment Act, including practical measures for preventing serious accidents.

Alongside this, various win-win growth activities such as the ▲'Immediate Payment for SMEs' program, ▲industrial innovation consulting, and ▲online recruitment centers for business partners are being steadily carried out.

Kim Jin-won, SKT Chief Financial Officer (CFO), said, "Despite the challenging business environment due to the prolonged pandemic, we will continue to practice various win-win collaborations to grow together with our partners who strive to provide the best services."

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