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KT Corporation (KT)

Q4 2013 Earnings Call· Tue, Jan 28, 2014

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

[Korean] Good morning, and good evening. First of all, thank you, all, for joining this conference call. And now we will begin the conference of the 2013 Fourth Quarter Preliminary Earnings Results by KT. The conference call will start with the earnings results presentation by Mr. Youngwoo Kim, KT IRO, followed by a Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] Now we would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Youngwoo Kim, KT IRO.

Youngwoo Kim

Analyst

[Korean] Good morning. I am Youngwoo Kim, IRO of KT. Due to the company's 2014 organizational revamp and changes in management yesterday, today, I will be leading our conference call for the fourth quarter 2013. [Korean] This call is being webcasted on our website. You can follow the slides as we make the presentation. [Korean] Since the first quarter 2011, KT has been presenting consolidated performance based on IFRS standards. [Korean] Now let me start the presentation for the fourth quarter 2013. During the past year, KT has experienced significant changes. Due to innovative wideband LTE services and efforts to improve the distribution network, subscriber trends, which have been on a net decline, have turned around post net additions from the fourth quarter, thus enabling the company to regain its leadership in the telecom market. [Korean] The non-telecom businesses have continued solid performance. In this backdrop, we are boosting our efforts to realize full-fledged synergies with the telecom business. [Korean] The company's new CEO, Mr. Chang-Gyu Hwang, who was appointed yesterday, announced he would reestablish the telecom business and make KT #1, a leading telecom-based convergence services. [Korean] To this end, leveraging its largest and highest quality wireless and wireline telecommunications network in Korea, KT will preemptively provide top-quality and differentiated services. Moving away from simply competing on subsidies, we will lead service innovation-based competition and focus efforts to create new growth drivers using ITT-based convergence services. [Korean] In addition, the new CEO has requested all employees to put their full commitment behind overcoming the crisis and has declared a crisis management mode for the company. Specifically, the CEO has returned 30% of his annual salary and has deferred his long-term bonus until growth momentum shows signs of recovery. For senior management, they have also returned 10% of salary, while…

Operator

Operator

[Korean] [Operator Instructions] The first question will be provided by Kim Hoe Jae from Daishin Securities, and the next question will be provided by Yang Jong In from Korea Investment & Securities. Mr. Kim Hoe Jae, please go ahead with your question.

Hoe Jae Kim - Daishin Securities Co. Ltd., Research Division

Analyst

[Korean] So let me ask you a few questions. I think that the most urgent thing that KT needs to deal with right now is to normalize its wireless business. If you look at the net addition trends and in terms of subscribers, there has been continuous improvement. However, from March of last year, in terms of the overall performance, there has been deterioration. So I think that there needs to be some normalization of this area. In terms of the market share and in terms of your strategy, for example, the overall number of subscribers, is it to maintain the situation? Or what would that be? For example, what would the overall strategy be for the wireless business? And if you have any ARPU guidance for this year, that would also be appreciated. The second question I have is with regards to your Media business. If you look at the government's overall strategy to develop the broadcasting market, it is now being focused on commercializing UHD services. If you look at KT, KT right now has IPT -- KT IPTV and also kt Skylife. So how will these business lines be involved in the UHD services, commercial services going forward? In addition, if you look at the net addition trends in 2013, it seems that versus 2012, there has been more growth on the OTS side rather than the olleh tv side. So in terms of the support for Skylife, what would be the strategy? Is the joint marketing still something that is valid? Or is there a change in the spend? And lastly, I would like to ask a question about the new CEO's business strategy for the company and when there will be an opportunity for there to be a communication about the market, about that strategy.

Youngwoo Kim

Analyst

[Korean] So as you have just pointed out, in 2013, in terms of our MNO subscribers, there has been a net decrease. However, if you look at the situation after September, after we have launched our wideband LTE services, in terms of our network competitiveness, I think that there has been a recovery. And using this as an impetus, I think that there has been an improvement in the brand awareness and also our distribution network. [Korean] So I think that there is 3 different areas in which we can actually prove that there are signs of a recovery in our wireless competitiveness. First would be with regards to our customer awareness. Second is in the distribution network. And lastly would be the recovery that we see in our subscriber trends. [Korean] So first of all, maybe to talk about our customer awareness, since we launched our wideband LTE services in September, for various customer surveys that have been focused on the wideband LTE, we have been a dominant #1 in terms of customer awareness. [Korean] So we do believe that this change in awareness will be one of the drivers in the recovery of our wireless competitiveness. And for the distribution networks, we do believe that this is something that is deeply related to the fundamental competitiveness of our business. And therefore, for the incentives that we provide to our sales agents or for the competencies that we have on the wholesale and also retail side, we do believe that there have been various achievements that we have been able to enjoy to see improvements in this area. [Korean] So lastly, I think I can talk about the subscriber trends right now in terms of the MMP subscribers. Up until the third quarter, we have seen around 50,000 in…

Bum Joon Kim

Analyst

This is Bum Joon Kim, the past CFO. I'll take the final call -- question on the new CEO issue. As you know, he was selected by a very fine group of selection committee, and everybody knows his background and coming back from Samsung. [Korean] He has been officially become a CEO as of yesterday. Prior to that, he spent about 30-plus days on transitioning and getting to know what's going on in the company. And as you might have seen, he has made some very big decisions in terms of the human resource. [Korean] And this morning, in the executive meeting, he decided to go into a state of crisis management. [Korean] And in the meeting, he has decided to give back 30% of his pay. [Korean] And there will be no bonus until we see a turnaround in the company. [Korean] So the point I'm trying to make is he is very serious about turning this company around. He's in the midst of getting his rein around the company's issues. And in terms of communicating with the market, coming from Samsung's background, he is very, very shareholder-knowledgeable. [Korean] So I've had my discussions with him, and he has expressed the need to speak with shareholders and with analysts in the near future. However, that will be at a time where he feels appropriate once the strategy of the company is firmly in place and he feels comfortable in discussing about the future and how we're going to have to turn the company around. So in short, he will agree to and will speak to the investors and also the analysts in the very near future, and he has expressed the interest in doing so. [Korean]

Operator

Operator

[Korean] The next question will be presented by Yang Jong In from Korea Investment & Securities. And the following question will be presented by Sean Oh from Merrill Lynch. Jong In Yang - Korea Investment & Securities Co., Ltd., Research Division: [Korean] There are 2 questions that I would like to ask you. The first question would be with regards to the long-term CapEx trends. If you look at your CapEx guidance for 2014, right now, you have presented KRW 2.7 trillion, which is a decrease of around 18% versus the previous year, and therefore, I believe that this is a very impressive number. However, if you look further down the road, for example, if we were to look at 2015 and 2016, and you were to be allocated new frequencies and there would be more investments required for that, do you believe that the KRW 2.7 trillion number in terms of CapEx is something that could be maintained? Or what would you believe would happen at that time? So that's the first question. And the second question that I would like to ask you is about the fourth quarter in terms of your wireline telephony trend. So on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the decrease was only around 0.2%, and therefore, I think that this is very impressive, and also, it is very positive for the company. But actually, I would like to understand better the reason behind why the decline has been less than previously, if you believe that this is a meaningful turnaround or that this would be a meaningful trend in terms of what it actually signified [ph].

Youngwoo Kim

Analyst

[Korean] So maybe to take the second question first about the fourth quarter in terms of the wireline telephony revenue and why there, we have seen less of a decline. Actually, this is driven because in the fourth quarter, there was a temporary increase in our VoIP and other telephony revenue. [Korean] However, to talk about the future in terms of our wireline telephony revenue and the trends going forward and whether we actually believe that there will be a slowdown, I think that the company's general stance is to be a bit cautious about that. Because if you look at the situation last year, the decline was around KRW 400 billion, and we do believe that this year, it will be less, so somewhere in the mid-KRW 300 billion level. However, for the actual level and how we see this going down, if at all, I think as of this point, it's something that we believe it is too early to tell.

Bum Joon Kim

Analyst

Let me address the issue on the CapEx. Yes, it was a dramatic reduction in CapEx from last year to this year's guidance, which is, last year, it's around KRW 3.5 trillion to now it's KRW 2.7 trillion. It's basically driven by the fact that we have to now be concerned about our cash flow and the ability to create the revenues in the future, and we believe that we can still do it with KRW 2.7 trillion. Now that being said, it's also safe to say that we will be focusing a lot on telecommunications, the excellence in telecommunications. We want to bring back and win back what we lost in telecommunications in the last 3 years. [Korean] So obviously, within the company, we do a lot of pulling and pushing to figure out which dollar makes the best rate of return. And at this point, we are omitting those that we find not to be any revenue-driven CapEx in the short term. So we are focusing on our revenue and our growth for the time being. [Korean] And lastly, internally, it shows tremendous corporate value increase only to continue to reduce CapEx and keep it down from our past amounts. So in essence, we're trying to increase corporate value. [Korean]

Operator

Operator

[Korean] The next question will be presented by Sean Oh from Merrill Lynch. And the following question will be presented by Sam Min from Morgan Stanley.

Sean Oh - BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division

Analyst

[Korean] So there are 2 questions that I would like to ask you. First, the question will be about your mobile ARPU. So if you look at the ARPU growth on a Q-o-Q basis, it was 2.6%. On a Y-on-Y basis, it was 4.8%. However, if you look at the revenue growth during the same period, on a Q-o-Q basis, it only went up 1.1%, and on a Y-on-Y basis, it only went up 0.6%. However, if you look at the subscriber numbers, in terms of subscribers, there actually hasn't been a significant difference. There was a slight decrease but not very significant. So I don't understand why the revenue growth has not been as healthy as your ARPU growth. Where is the gap and what is the reason behind that? That's the first question. And the second question is that if you look at your commissions line item, there seems to be a very large increase on a Q-on-Q basis. And what would be included in this commissions line item?

Youngwoo Kim

Analyst

[Korean] Now to address the first question that you have between what the gap is with regards to our wireless service revenue and the ARPU, and you know why the growth numbers are not in line, there would be 2 reasons behind that. One is that in terms of the MVNO network usage fees that we received, that, that has not been -- that, that has been weakening. And then on the MNO side, that in terms of subscribers, we still don't see any increase in the number of subscribers yet. [Korean] So maybe to give you more of the specifics, for example, in terms of the MVNO network usage fees that we receive on a Q-on-Q basis, the decline has been around 37%. And in terms of the MNO subscribers, if you look at the quarterly average, it actually has decreased around 0.7%. So these 2 factors have actually had an impact, and therefore, they are the main reasons between the gap in terms of our growth on the ARPU side versus the revenue side. [Korean] In terms of the commissions line item that you mentioned, the main reason why there has been a significant increase there is because of the seasonality that KT has in terms of its business nature. So in the fourth quarter, there tends to be a significant increase, which has led to the healthy increase in commissions.

Operator

Operator

[Korean] The next question will be presented by Sam Min from Morgan Stanley. And the following question will be presented by Moon Jee-Hyun from KDB Daewoo Securities.

Sam Min - Morgan Stanley, Research Division

Analyst

I have 2 quick questions. First would be on your dividend announcement of KRW 800 per share. We're kind of curious as to how KT came up with KRW 800, what the logic or rationale was, if there was some benchmark in calculating that amount. In addition, can we presume that perhaps future dividends will be at least higher than KRW 800 per share, considering that your capital expenditure will be falling this year? My second question is on marketing cost. We've seen a pretty big jump Q-over-Q in the fourth quarter. And could you perhaps kind of explain what kind of drove the increase in marketing cost during the fourth quarter? Lastly, just wanted to thank CFO Kim for all the participation and help with the sell side, as well as buy side, and I wanted to ask where CFO Kim will be heading next. [Korean]

Youngwoo Kim

Analyst

[Korean] So maybe to address the first question that you have with regards to the dividend, if you look at 2013, on a nonconsolidated basis, there has been a net loss of the company, and therefore, in such a situation, it is a bit burdensome for KT to be paying dividends amidst this environment. However, we do have a commitment that we had made to our shareholders, and therefore, internally, we had looked at the appropriate amount of resources that we could allocate to dividends, and therefore, that is how we came up with the KRW 800 per share dividend level. [Korean] So if you look at the total dividends that is being paid in terms of the total amount in 2013 on a consolidated and nonconsolidated basis versus the net income that we have been able to generate, actually, we do believe that it is a meaningful amount. And please understand that this is the best effort that we have been able to put forth. However, we do feel sorry to the market that we have not been able to deliver the KRW 2,000 per share commitment that we had made. [Korean] In terms of our dividend policy going forward, we do believe that this policy will be established in consideration of our mid- to long-term business plan and also our financial position improvement plan that we are right now establishing. Once these plans have been fully finalized, then I do believe that there will be an opportunity for us to communicate to the market what our intentions are. [Korean] So to talk about the fourth quarter, the sales expenses that we had, this is actually related to our wireless capacity increase versus, for example, the handset sales increase that we have had. So if you look at it on a quarterly basis, it is around KRW 150 billion. So that represents around 20.7% increase. So that would be KRW 707.6 billion. [Korean] And one thing that we would like to highlight here is that if you look at our wireless capacity from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, it has increased 25%. However, in terms of our sales expenses, actually, it has not increased at the same rate. So this is something that we would like to highlight. [Korean] So we do believe that the core right now of what we would like to emphasize is that if you look at the per person sales acquisition cost, that this has not increased. So that is what we would like to highlight.

Bum Joon Kim

Analyst

And this is Thomas Kim again. Mr. Min, thank you for that question. After 8 quarters of doing conference call, this has to be the easiest question I have received. [Korean] I'll be moving on, laterally, to a department called synergy management, which is a fancy word for taking care of all the subsidiary companies. [Korean] But more importantly, I'd like to introduce a name for the new oncoming CFO, and his name is [indiscernible] Kim. [Korean] And I would very much appreciate all buy side and sell side give him as much respect as you have given me in the last 2 years. Thank you. [Korean]

Operator

Operator

[Korean] The last question will be presented by Moon Jee-Hyun from KDB Daewoo Securities.

Jee-Hyun Moon - KDB Daewoo Securities Co., Ltd., Research Division

Analyst

[Korean] There are 2 questions that I would like to ask you, and they are both related to the recent developments that have took place in the wireless area. First about -- is about the tariff package that you have. You recently set forth or launched a tariff package for the wideband LTE services that provided 4x more data than had been provided under existing packages. So what I would like to understand is that is this package just something that you are temporarily promoting as a package? Or is this something that will be a main tariff plan that you are going to promote in line of moving in the direction of unlimited data being provided to your customers? So that is the first question. And the second question that I have is with regards to the MVNO services that you have. So right now, in terms of the number of MVNO subs, you have the largest number of subscribers amongst the various carriers that are operating in Korea. In addition to that, there has been some news articles or news reports that maybe one of your subsidiaries may be engaged in the MVNO services going forward. So therefore, I think that as a carrier, you have the largest exposure to this market. So I would like to ask you what your forecast is about the MVNO market going forward. And will there be any changes in terms of strategy for this business?

Youngwoo Kim

Analyst

[Korean] So first, to talk about the question that you asked about our wideband unlimited [indiscernible] tariff package that was actually launched today, this is a tariff package that we are providing under wideband LTE that is focusing on data usage and data traffic so that we can strengthen our leadership in this area. [Korean] So I think that in terms of this package or product, that we can actually describe this better versus the unlimited voice package that we had existing, because I think that these 2 are very good comparison. So, for example, for the unlimited voice package that we had launched, this is actually something that we have created to accommodate the customer usage patterns. For example, for heavy voice-using customers, that was the package that we had to deal with that demand. And for the new package that we launched today, this is for customers that are more focused on data usage. So if you actually look at the voice minutes of use that is being provided, it is much less than what we have had under other traditional packages. [Korean] So ultimately, who we are targeting with this package would be data-heavy users, and mostly, it would be people who are of a younger age. So rather than this being a promotional package, I think that it should be looked at as a more customized or specialized package that we are providing for this target customer base. [Korean] So next, to move on to the question that you had about our MVNO subscribers, the performance and the outlook for the future. As of the year end 2013, if you look at our MVNO subscriber base, it is 1.17 million, which accounts for 7.1% of the subscriber base. [Korean] And in terms of the overall trend…

Operator

Operator

[Korean] The next question will be presented by Dan Kong from Deutsche Securities.

Dan Kong - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

[Korean] I would like to ask a very simple question to you. If you look at your LTE subscribers only and then would look at the LTE-A subscribers versus the wideband LTE subscribers, is there any difference in the data usage volume between these 2 different type of subscribers?

Youngwoo Kim

Analyst

[Korean] So from the company's perspective, since we have launched our wideband LTE out of the 1.8 frequency bandwidth, most of the existing customer base that we have had is able to enjoy wideband LTE services. And therefore, from the company's perspective, we actually don't do a separate analysis in comparison of the wideband LTE service users versus LTE service users. From our perspective, a customer is a customer, and therefore, we don't actually segregate them or split them into different groups.

Dan Kong - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

[Korean] So actually, to be more specific about the question, one thing that I was actually very curious about is that if you compare just the generic LTE services versus the wideband LTE services that you have recently launched, do you see the data usage increasing with wideband LTE? That was the question. So could you maybe address that?

Youngwoo Kim

Analyst

[Korean] So I do understand the gist of the question that you were asking. Taking into consideration that the wideband LTE services started in the third quarter, if you look at the data usage before that point of time and after that point of time, there actually has been an increase in data usage. However, rather than this being driven by the wideband LTE services that have been provided, it's actually part of the general trend of data usage growing on a quarter-on-quarter basis continuously. So therefore, to say that the average data volume has increased because of our wideband LTE service launch, I think as of this point of time, it's too early to say. [Korean] However, one thing that should be taken into consideration is that we do believe that if you look at the situation since October when we completed our double data promotion, we do believe that, that has had an impact. Therefore, if you look at the trend starting in the fourth quarter of last year going into the first and second and third quarter of this year, after the effects of the double data promotion has actually been eliminated, I think that we would have a better idea or better judgment about how much data volume has been increasing. [Korean] So if there are no further questions, we will wrap up the Q&A session here. Thank you for your questions and interest. Once again, I would like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to participate in today's call. With this, we would like to conclude the fourth quarter 2013 earnings release of KT. Thank you very much.