Korea's three telecom operators are likely to report stable earnings in the second-quarter of this year, helped by curbs on their marketing spending, an industry survey showed Thursday.

Korea implemented a law early last year that kept fierce competition among telecom firms by wooing customers with hefty subsidies in check. 

The combined revenue of SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus is expected to grow 2.3 percent on year to 12.6 trillion won ($11.04 billion) in the April-June period, according to securities firms' forecasts compiled by industry tracker FnGuide.

Their combined operating profit is likely to be little changed at 973.9 billion won.

By company, KT is forecast to report 371.6 billion won in its second-quarter operating profit, up 0.8 percent on year. Sales are likely to grow 2.5 percent on year to 5.5 trillion won.

SK Telecom's operating profit is expected to rise 1.2 percent to 426.5 billion won and sales are forecast to grow 3.3 percent to 4.3 trillion won.

However, LG Uplus is expected to report 175.8 billion won in its second-quarter operation profit, down 8.6 percent from the same period last year because of a one-time financial reason. Sales are likely to grow 3.5 percent on year to 2.7 trillion won. (Yonhap)