Taipei, Nov. 13, 2012 (CENS)--Taiwan Mobile Corp., Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. and Far EasTone Telecom Co., Ltd. made more-than-expected profits in the first 10 months of the year, with Taiwan Mobile leading industry peers.
In the Jan.-Oct. period, Taiwan Mobile earned NT$12.4 billion (US$429 million at US$1:NT$29), or NT$4.63 per share, in after-tax net income; Chunghwa Telecom made NT$34.5 billion (US$1.1 billion), or NT$4.45 per share; and Far EasTone fetched NT$9.1 billion (US$315 million), or NT$2.81 per share.
Industry executives ascribed the handsome earnings at Taiwan’s top three telecom carries mostly to the sharp increases in their revenue from value-added mobile service in spite of a series of rate cuts by the carriers.
In the first 10 months this year, Chunghwa’s revenue from value-added mobile service surged 33.6% from the same period of last year and accounted for 27.8% of its total revenue from various mobile services. As of October, the company had 1.17 million customers of multimedia on demand (MOD) service, and its value-added mobile revenue for the month soared 37.2% from a year earlier.
Chunghwa’s October revenue from various mobile services rose 2.6% year on year, cushioning the impact from rate cuts of voice service demanded by the National Communications Commission (NCC).
In the Jan.-Oct. period, Chunghwa had consolidated revenue of NT$157.2 billion (US$5.4 billion), attaining 83.3% of its annual goal for this year. Meanwhile, its operating profit was NT$39.8 billion (US$1.3 billion), attaining 88.2% of its annual goal; and its after-tax net income was NT$34.5 billion (US$1.1 billion), or NT$4.45 per share, attaining 88.1% of its annual goal.
As of October, the company had a total of 2.69 million customers for its broadband online service based on optical-fiber networks.
In the Jan.-Oct. period this year, Taiwan Mobile scored consolidated revenue of NT$80.4 billion (US$2.7 billion) and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) of NT$23.3 billion (US$806 million). In October alone, the company had consolidated revenue of NT$8.2 billion (US$284 million), EBITDA of NT$2.3 billion (US$81 million) and after-tax net income of NT$1.2 billion (US$44 million), or NT$0.47 per share.
Taiwan Mobile’s spokesperson and chief finance officer, Rosie Yu, said the company’s October revenue from mobile services increased 6% year on year thanks to considerable growth in its value-added mobile revenue.
In October, Far EasTone raked in consolidated revenue of NT$7.2 billion (US$249 million), consolidated EBITDA of NT$2.1 billion (US$73 million) and after-tax net income of NT$977 million (US$33 million), or NT$0.3 per share. In the Jan.-Oct. period, the company’s consolidated revenue and consolidated EBITA were NT$71.5 billion (US$2.4 billion) and NT$20.7 billion (US$715 million), respectively.
(by Ken Liu)