SK Telecom has won the top grade in the Shared Growth Index assessment for the 14th year in a row.

The company said on Wednesday that it earned the highest rating in the 2026 Shared Growth Index Assessment (2025 performance), published by the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership.

The index gauges how far large companies and small and midsize firms grow together. It combines the commission's own comprehensive evaluation with the Korea Fair Trade Commission's assessment of compliance with partnership agreements. Results fall into five grades: highest, excellent, average, poor and very poor.

According to SK Telecom, two companies in South Korea, itself included, have held the top grade for 14 or more consecutive years. It was also named an Honorary Top-Rated Company, a designation for firms that have earned the highest grade for at least three years running.

SK Telecom set up the industry's first dedicated shared-growth organization in 2003 and has since supported its partners' financial stability and competitiveness.

Since 2004, it has run a Pay Immediately program, under which small and midsize partners receive 100% of their payments in cash within two business days of the date the expenditure is approved.

With banks, the company has also created a 117 billion KRW (about 87.7 million USD) shared-growth fund that subsidizes loan interest. Its best-performing partners can use a separate interest-free loan program.

Ahead of this year's Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays, SK Telecom and SK Broadband paid small and midsize partners a combined 243.8 billion KRW (about 183 million USD) early for goods and services delivered.

To help partners stay on a sustainable footing, SK Telecom offers Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) diagnostics and consulting, as well as consulting on production, technology and market innovation. It also covers the costs of technology data escrow, trade-secret authentication and free transfers of patent rights.

The Shared Growth Academy provides courses in information and communications technology (ICT) and legally required training. This year, it expanded in-person artificial intelligence (AI) training for partners' employees, including courses on data analysis and work automation.

The company also operates an online-only recruitment platform, and offers welfare points and support for family events.

SK Telecom plans to keep its existing support in finance and education while expanding help for partners' future competitiveness, in areas such as AI transformation, ESG and productivity innovation.

Park Jong-seok, SK Telecom's chief financial officer, said that winning the top grade in the Shared Growth Index for 14 consecutive years is an achievement it has built with partners who have been with SK Telecom for a long time. He added that it will work to spread the value of shared growth across the whole supply chain.

In July, SK Telecom held a mutual-growth agreement signing ceremony with seven SK Group member companies and more than 100 partner firms, reaffirming its commitment to shared growth. The agreement focused on strengthening partners' competitiveness and broadening the foundation for sustainable growth across the supply chain.

SK Telecom has won the top grade in the Shared Growth Index assessment for the 14th year i …

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