SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top mobile carrier, said Monday its third-quarter net profit sank 28.1 percent from a year earlier due largely to a government-led discount policy for mobile phone users.
  

Net income reached 381.8 billion won ($334.6 million) in the July-September period, compared with 531 billion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing.
  

Operating profit fell 8.6 percent on-year to 490.6 billion won, with sales also dropping 2.4 percent to 4.26 trillion won.
  

The net profit fell far short of the median estimate of 496.9 billion won in a poll surveyed by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.
  

The weaker bottom line mainly came as there was a sharp increase in the new monthly plan that offers a higher discount rate instead of a rebate, which was pushed by the government to curb excessive subsidy payouts, the company said.  
  

Shares of SK Telecom were trading at 236,500 won on the Seoul bourse as of 11:28 a.m., down 1.87 percent from a day earlier. The earnings results came out after the stock market opened. (Yonhap)