SK Telecom Co., South Korea's leading mobile carrier, said Wednesday its third-quarter net profit decreased 9.1 percent from a year earlier due to an increase in non-operating costs.

Net profit for the July-September period came to 280.2 billion won ($202.1 million), down 9.1 percent from a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Its operating profit rose 7.1 percent on-year to 533.3 billion won, while sales increased 2.9 percent to 4.53 trillion won.

The company said its net profit decreased due to investment in a partner firm, but its operating profit improved thanks to a robust performance across its businesses.

Its mainstay mobile business unit saw the number of its fifth-generation communications network subscribers increase to 16.6 million as of end-September, up from 15 million a year ago.

Subscriptions of its personal artificial intelligence agent, A., also tripled to 5.6 million over the same period.

Sales from its data center unit climbed 14 percent on-year to 60.9 billion won, thanks to a higher operation rate and revenue from its cloud business expanding 30 percent to 47 billion won.

SK Telecom said it will expand its AI business as part of efforts to become a comprehensive AI technology company.

It plans to open AI data centers in Seoul and Pangyo next month and release a large language model tailored to the needs of telecommunications companies next year.

The mobile carrier said it will hand out cash dividends worth 830 won per share to its stockholders in the third quarter. (Yonhap)