LG Uplus Corp., South Korea’s No. 3 mobile carrier, said Monday its net profit halved on-year in the first quarter as it struggled through a series of business suspensions.

Net profit came to 26.8 billion won ($25.8 million) in the January-March period, falling 63.9 percent from 74.3 billion won in the previous year, LG Uplus said in a regulatory filing. Revenue edged down 2.8 percent to 2.7 trillion won in the first quarter from last year, with its operating profit losing 8.1 percent to 113.1 billion won over the cited period.

The firm attributed the weak earnings to an increase in its marketing costs amid heightened competition with rivals at the start of the year, ahead of the government’s full-fledged implementation of regulative policies.

Local mobile carriers were banned from signing on new subscribers for 45 days starting in March due to business suspensions as punishment for providing illegal incentives to users changing their service providers.

LG Uplus, the smallest of the three carriers, was ordered to close down from March 13 to April 4 and from April 27 to May 18. (Yonhap)