SK Telecom Co., South Korea’s top mobile carrier, on Tuesday said its net profit more than halved in the third quarter on increased spending to promote the faster long-term evolution network.

Net profit came to 175.6 billion won ($160.8 million) in the July-September period, compared with a profit of 383.9 billion won a year earlier, SK Telecom said in a regulatory filing.

Revenue gained 2 percent on-year to 4.1 trillion won in the cited period, while operating profit tumbled 46.4 percent on-year to 300.7 billion won.

The mobile carrier attributed the weak bottom line to “expanded investment in LTE networks and a temporary increase in LTE marketing expenses.”

The company, however, said a growth in its LTE subscriber base helped lift its overall revenue. SK provided LTE services for over 6 million users as of end-October, and plans to ramp up the figure to 7 million by the end of the year, according to the company. (Yonhap News)