LG Uplus will commercialise 5G standalone mode (SA) this year. With subscribers to its artificial intelligence (AI) service Iksio exceeding 1 million, the business-to-business (B2B) segment will pursue growth centred on AI data centres (DC).

LG Uplus reported on Feb. 5 that it posted 2025 consolidated revenue of 15.45 trillion won and operating profit of 892.1 billion won. Revenue rose 5.7 percent from a year earlier and operating profit increased 3.4 percent.

Service revenue, excluding handset revenue, rose 3.5 percent over the same period. It beat the company’s 2025 management guidance of 2 percent growth in consolidated service revenue and marked the highest growth rate in the past four years.

Marketing costs in 2025 rose 4.8 percent from a year earlier to 2.31 trillion won as subscribers increased. Marketing costs as a share of service revenue were 20.2 percent, similar to the previous year.

Net profit rose 61.9 percent from a year earlier to 509.2 billion won, reflecting base effects tied to an asset impairment loss at subsidiary LG HelloVision in 2024. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 1.8 percent to 3.59 trillion won.

Fourth-quarter consolidated revenue last year was 3.85 trillion won, up 2.5 percent from a year earlier. Operating profit increased 20 percent to 170.5 billion won.

Mobile revenue up 3.7 percent; wireless subscriptions top 30 million

Revenue in the mobile segment rose. It posted revenue of 6.67 trillion won, up 3.7 percent from a year earlier, helped by subscription growth and improved customer satisfaction. Mobile service revenue, excluding interconnection revenue, rose 4.1 percent to 6.37 trillion won.

Total wireless subscriptions, including mobile network operator (MNO) and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) lines, rose 7.7 percent from a year earlier to 30,711,000, topping 30 million for the first time. Net additions in total subscriptions were 2,196,000. MVNO lines rose 10.5 percent to 9,005,000, sustaining double-digit growth for seven consecutive years since 2019.

MNO subscriptions last year rose 6.6 percent from a year earlier to 21,706,000. 5G handset subscriptions increased 17.1 percent to 9,314,000. The share of 5G handset subscriptions rose 10.4 percentage points to 83.1 percent from 72.7 percent in 2024. Fourth-quarter MNO churn was 1.00 percent, improving 0.06 percentage points from the same period a year earlier.

LG Uplus will commercialise 5G SA this year. Jang Bong-jo (장봉조), head of network planning, said on a conference call that technical preparations on the network side for providing 5G SA services were complete and that it planned to commercialise the service within the year after checking SA service quality, including device-network interworking tests.

He added that SA services would be provided through software upgrades and that there would be no large-scale investment like 5G buildouts.

MVNO lines totalled 9,005,000, up 10.5 percent from 8,147,000 in 2024. As of the fourth quarter of 2025, MNO average revenue per user (ARPU), excluding IoT and MVNO lines, was 35,999 won, up 1.8 percent from 35,356 won in 2024.

Smart home revenue up 3.3 percent; "boost profitability through differentiated content"

Revenue in the smart home segment, comprising IPTV and high-speed internet, rose 3.3 percent from a year earlier to 2.59 trillion won. Internet revenue grew 7.3 percent to 1.22 trillion won, and subscriptions rose 4.2 percent to 5,578,000. The share of gigabit internet subscriptions rose 4.8 percentage points over a year to 32.6 percent.

The IPTV business steadily attracted subscribers and recorded revenue of 1.33 trillion won, similar to 2024, despite a difficult external environment including an increase in OTT users and a decline in video-on-demand revenue. Total IPTV subscriptions rose 2.9 percent to 5,739,000 from 5,576,000 in 2024.

LG Uplus revamped the base package pricing plan for U+ IPTV in the fourth quarter last year. It is also expecting additional revenue growth effects as it expands the number of available channels.

Park Chan-seung (박찬승), head of the home business group, said it would focus on providing differentiated content and improving user experience, while expanding high-value subscribers and strengthening cost competitiveness to work toward improving mid- to long-term profitability.

AIDC revenue up 18.4 percent; reviewing phase-two investment in Paju DC

Revenue in the enterprise infrastructure segment, including AIDC, solutions and enterprise lines, rose 6 percent to 1.81 trillion won. In particular, AIDC revenue rose 18.4 percent to 422.0 billion won, helped by the company’s own DC and entry into new DBO business.

LG Uplus will pursue expansion of its colocation business through its Paju data centre, for which construction began last year. The goal is completion in May 2027, with capacity to accommodate more than 100,000 servers on a site the size of nine soccer fields.

Ahn Hyung-gyun (안형균), head of the enterprise AI business group, said data centres were expected to show continued growth, helped by rising demand for GPUs, and that it had already secured customer demand for one computing building at the Paju data centre and was actively reviewing expanding phase-two investment as additional demand was expected.

The solutions segment, including AI contact centres, smart mobility, NW solutions and relay messaging, posted revenue of 550.3 billion won, up 4.5 percent from 2024, helped by higher network buildout revenue. The enterprise lines business also recorded revenue of 835.5 billion won, up 1.6 percent, due in part to higher demand for lines.

AI call service Iksio has exceeded its subscriber target of 1 million. Yeoh Myung-hee (여명희), chief financial officer (CFO) and chief risk officer (CRO), stressed that Iksio had established itself as a differentiated service that expands customer touchpoints.

Yeoh said 2026 would focus on profitability-centred structural improvements and strengthening the fundamental competitiveness of its telecommunications business, and that it would increase resource投入 for future growth and strengthening fundamentals to deliver sustainable growth and enhance shareholder value.