"It's Been So Long"... Roaming Revenue Also Rises with Surge in Overseas Travel

Telecom 3 Companies "Q3 Roaming Revenue Triples Year-on-Year," Rebounds After 2 Years

[Image source=Pixabay]

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] As countries enter the COVID-19 endemic phase and ease entry quarantine procedures, pent-up demand for overseas travel is exploding. With the skies reopening, roaming revenues of the three major telecom companies are also soaring. Although still below pre-COVID-19 levels due to factors such as exchange rates, it is expected to return to normal by the end of the year.

According to the industry on the 14th, SK Telecom announced in its recent Q3 earnings report that roaming revenue tripled compared to the same period last year. Kim Jin-won, SK Telecom’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), said, "Last year’s roaming revenue was only 15% compared to 2019, before COVID-19," adding, "This year, as travel restrictions were gradually lifted, Q3 roaming revenue increased about threefold compared to the same period last year."

KT and LG Uplus also saw increases in roaming revenue. A KT official stated, "Similar to other companies, both users and revenue tripled." An LG Uplus official said, "It is difficult to disclose specific figures, but it is at a similar level to other companies."

According to global market research firm Strategy Analytics (SA), roaming revenue typically accounts for 2-4% of total telecom company revenue. Although the portion of roaming revenue in total sales is not large, it has high margins as an intermediary service. Even though it has entered a recovery phase, it is still only about half of pre-COVID-19 levels, so it is expected to continue positively impacting earnings as recovery progresses.

According to Korea Tourism Organization’s Korea Tourism Statistics, 619,954 Koreans traveled abroad in September this year, a 5.3-fold increase compared to 116,615 in September last year. However, compared to 2,049,830 in September 2019 before COVID-19, it is only about one-third. In response to the surge in overseas travel, the three major telecom companies are preparing various promotions and roaming products to meet roaming demand.

SK Telecom offers a 50% discount to customers who have not used roaming plans in the past five years (60 months). For popular travel destinations like Guam and Saipan, which lifted restrictions early, SK Telecom operates the 'T Guam Saipan Like Domestic' plan, allowing customers to use domestic data plans as is.

KT provides roaming customers with discounts on overseas tours, activities, car rentals, and hotel reservations. Customers using 5G plans costing over 80,000 KRW (Basic, Special) or 5G Y Slim plans receive free data roaming at speeds ranging from 100 Kbps to 3 Mbps. LG Uplus is running a promotion until the end of this month offering roaming products at half price to customers who have not used roaming services since January 2019.

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