[Edaily Reporter Yun Junghoon ]SKTelecom(017670)has once again proven its status as a leading company in Korea committed to mutual growth by earning the highest rating in the Shared Growth Index evaluation for the 14th consecutive year.

SKT Corporation announced on the 11th that it received the highest rating for the 14th consecutive year in the “2026 Shared Growth Index Evaluation (2025 Performance)” released by the Shared Growth Committee. In South Korea, only two companies—including SKT—have maintained the highest rating for 14 consecutive years or more in the Shared Growth Index evaluation. SKT was also named a “Distinguished Company,” an honor awarded to companies that have received the highest rating for three consecutive years.

The Shared Growth Index is a metric designed to evaluate and quantify the performance of individual companies to promote shared growth between large and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It combines the Comprehensive Evaluation by the Shared Growth Committee with the Agreement Compliance Evaluation by the Fair Trade Commission to classify companies into five grades: “Excellent,” “Good,” “Average,” “Inadequate,” and “Very Inadequate.”

SKT’s latest achievement is rooted in its management philosophy that “the competitiveness of our business partners is SKT’s competitiveness.” Since 2003, when it became the first company in the telecommunications industry to establish a dedicated organization for mutual growth and cooperation, SKT has continuously expanded comprehensive support measures to ensure the operational stability and strengthen the self-sustainability of its partner companies.

First and foremost, financial support to alleviate cash flow difficulties stands out. Since 2004, SKT has implemented the “Immediate Payment” system, paying 100% of transaction amounts in cash within two business days of the payment approval date.

In addition, in partnership with commercial banks, SKT has established a 117 billion won “Shared Growth Fund” to provide interest relief on loans and is operating an interest-free loan program for Daesang partners. During this year’s Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays, SKT collaborated with SK Broadband to make early payments totaling 243.8 billion won, thereby reducing the financial burden on its partners.

Beyond mere financial support, the company also operates tailored programs designed to improve partners’ operational foundations and strengthen their future competitiveness. In addition to ESG management assessments and consulting, it fully covers the costs associated with the escrow of technical data and the royalty-free transfer of patent rights to protect the core technologies and management information of small and medium-sized enterprises.

In particular, in line with the growing trend of AI adoption, SKT has significantly expanded offline, hands-on AI training—including data analysis and business automation—for employees of partner companies through the “Shared Growth Academy.” In addition, the company is implementing a wide range of support measures, such as operating an online-only recruitment portal and providing welfare points.

Going forward, SKT plans to steadily maintain its existing mutual growth programs in areas such as finance and education, while expanding the mutual growth ecosystem across the entire supply chain to include AI Transformation (AX), ESG, and productivity innovation.

Park Jong-seok, CFO of SKT, stated, “Achieving the highest rating for 14 consecutive years is a valuable accomplishment created together with our business partners who have walked alongside SKT for a long time,” adding, “We will continue to lay the groundwork for our business partners’ sustained growth and spare no effort in supporting the spread of the value of mutual growth throughout the entire supply chain.”