Mercury expects improved 2nd half earnings

Wi-Fi access point maker Mercury is expecting improved earnings in the second half of 2020 thanks to its supply to telco KT.

The company began shipping more access points for KT’s Wi-Fi 6 access point aimed at the home in the fourth quarter.

KT had launched Wi-Fi access points in June and August this year and is expanding their sales.

KT is pushing its Giga Wi Internet service and aiming for a million subscribers by the end of 2020. Wi-Fi 6 access points and access point repeaters are sold with the package.

Mercury has so far been the exclusive vendor for these access points but KT is expected to increase the number of suppliers next year.

Mercury is expected to post 120 billion won in sales this year. Its accumulated sales up to the third quarter was 77.5 billion won __ its third quarter sales of 33.2 billion won accounts for 40% of this. The company’s sales in the fourth quarter is expected to increase even further.

As of last month, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT, KT had 9.16 million internet subscribers. SK Broadband had 6.58 million and LG Uplus had 44.9 million.

LG Uplus launched its Wi-Fi 6 access point in October. SK is yet to launch its own.