Chunghwa Telecom Co’s (CHT, 中華電信) net profits last year slid 8.6 percent annually to NT$35.52 billion (US$1.15 billion), due primarily to intensifying price competition, missing the company’s full-year forecast for the first time in history.
Major telecoms in May last year reduced their flat rates for unlimited 4G service packages to as low as NT$499 a month, which has negatively affected their bottom line.
Chunghwa Telecom on Thursday said that its earnings per share dropped to NT$4.58 last year, missing its prediction of NT$4.8 to NT$5.2.
The nation’s biggest telecom previously expected a 4.14 percent net profit decline to NT$37.25 billion last year.
Revenue slid 5.3 percent to NT$215.46 billion last year, from NT$227.55 billion in 2017. The figure also fell short of the company’s forecast of revenue growth to between NT$231.47 billion and NT$232.97 billion.
Last month alone, revenue plunged 11.1 percent month-on-month to NT$19.45 billion on a decline in voice calls and the decline in mobile revenue due to competition, while reductions in handset sales and information and communications technology projects offset revenue increases from wired Internet subscriptions and the multimedia-on-demand (MOD) business, Chunghwa Telecom chief financial officer Harrison Kuo (郭水義) said.
Chunghwa Telecom is not the only victim of the price war.
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) also saw its net profits last year fall short of its expectations.
Net profits last year sank by a worse-than-expected 13.62 percent to NT$9.38 billion, compared with NT$10.86 billion in 2017.
The figure was 90 percent of the company’s financial forecast, said Far EasTone, which originally projected that net profit would fall 4 percent last year to NT$10.42 billion.
Revenue fell 5.9 percent to NT$86.64 billion, lower than the company’s prediction of NT$89.89 billion.
However, Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) met its financial target last year, with net profit of NT$13.64 billion, exceeding its NT$13.6 billion guidance. Earnings per share were NT$5.01.
Revenue rose 1.33 percent annually to NT$118.73 billion last year on contributions from Taiwan Mobile’s telesales and online retailing arm, Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體).
However, the figure was lower than the company’s estimate of NT$123.14 billion.
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