Bangkok--25 Oct--Siam PR. Consultant
DTAC, Thailand’s leading mobile operator, reported its 3- month- results in the third quarter ended September 30, 2006 of 1.2 billion baht, up 17.1% compared to the same quarter of last year (“YoY”). Service revenues were 11.9 billion baht, an increase of 16% YoY. EBITDA* were 4.4 billion baht, an increase of 10.2% YoY.
DTAC obtained 841,044 new customers in the third quarter bringing the total number of customers to 11.5 million. Of the total net additions, 690,481 were prepaid and 150,563 were postpaid customers. DTAC’s postpaid customers are approaching 2 million, and have now had a positive growth for 41 months continuously. The company also saw continued growth in value-added-service revenues which increased 40% YoY and now represents 9% of service revenues. Following a 13% fall in overall ARPU** QoQ in the second quarter, DTAC managed to stabilize ARPU in Q3 at 346 baht, despite the tough price competition in the market.
Chief Executive Officer Sigve Brekke said the continual growth in subscribers and revenues reflected consumers’ strong confidence in the company’s service and network quality, despite heavy price promotions over the past months.
Apart from working to maintain its value for money and innovative pricing mechanisms, the company continued to expand its network capacity and coverage. When the market was plagued by poor network congestion during the recent price war, the company had invested in expanding gateway capacity to ensure smooth transition for all consumers. At end of Q306, the company rolled out 1,030 new base stations, bringing the total number to 7,078 nationwide.
“We’ve been working extremely hard to gain this trust from the customers and we promise to do everything we can to make them remain happy with us,” he said.
* Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA)
** Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
For more information please contact:
Songkram Kingklang or Wichittra Tungjerdjarad
Siam PR. Consultant Co., Ltd.
Tel. 0 2693 7835 — 8 ext. 39 or 41
Fax. 0 2693 6920