Due to the downturn of global and Taiwan economies, some telecom operators reported slower than expected growth with others revising down their annual growth forecasts for this year.
Taiwan Cellular Corp (台灣大哥大), the biggest mobile phone company in Taiwan, said sales in September slipped 5 percent to NT$4.08 billion (US$118 million) from August's NT$4.26 billion.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the company attributed the decline in sales to fewer business days and more price-discount services being offered last month.
For the first nine months of the year, Taiwan Cellular said it has achieved a pretax profit of NT$13.8 billion, adding that its profit forecast for this year remains unchanged at NT$16.98 billion, despite the recent typhoons in Taiwan and the US-led air strikes in Afghanistan. The company had 6.4 million customers at the end of September, an increase of 100,000 from the end of June.
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華 電信), the second biggest mobile phone company, also said sales declined in September earlier this week in a statement.
Chunghwa's sales reached a total of NT$15.37 billion in September compared with NT$15.6 billion in August, the company said.
While Chunghwa didn't comment on what caused the decline in sales, officials at the company have said recently that Typhoon Nari last month damaged its network and interrupted phone service, leaving NT$870 million in total equipment losses.
Including Taiwan Cellular and Chunghwa, Taiwan's major mobile phone companies have about 20 million customers out of a total population of 22.4 million, according to the latest government figures by the Directorate General of Telecommunications.
With such a high penetration ratio in Taiwan where eight mobile phones are owned by every 10 people, some investors say Taiwan's major mobile phone companies will find it difficult to add subscribers and thus limit potential growth in their sales and earnings.
The bleak business outlook for the sector is even more true if the renewed pressure of military conflict in Afghanistan on Taiwan's economic growth are taken into account.
Actually, Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) said it would slash pretax profit for this year by 28 percent, citing a deteriorating local economy and a slowing cellular market.
Far EasTone, Taiwan's fourth-largest mobile phone company, said its pretax profit this year is likely to fall to NT$6.2 billion from an earlier forecast of NT$8.6 billion. The company also cut its sales forecast by 22 percent to NT$34.5 billion.
"Our revenue is not growing as we expected, due to the slowdown of the economy and the high penetration levels in the market," Far EasTone President Joseph O'Konek said in a statement.
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