Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s largest telecom, yesterday said net profit last quarter fell 4.9 percent to NT$8.09 billion (US$265 million), while revenue declined 3.5 percent to NT$50.85 billion.
Earnings per share (EPS) fell to NT$1.04, from NT$1.1 a year earlier, due to the weaker-than-expected figures, the telecom said.
Due to increased use of voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) and mobile phones, revenue at its international fixed network communications segment plunged 29.8 percent to NT$2.94 billion, while revenue at its domestic segment fell 5.1 percent to NT$15.63 billion, it said.
The decline in the domestic segment, which contributed 30.74 percent to overall revenue last quarter, was softened by a 6 percent annual increase in revenue in the multimedia-on-demand (MOD) business to NT$902 million, it said.
“We counted more than 2.09 million subscribers to our MOD business [last quarter], a 9.4 percent [annual] increase,” chief financial officer Harrison Kuo (郭水義) told an investors’ teleconference, adding that the company’s audiovisual platform is the biggest in the nation.
The firm aims to boost revenue through the broadcast of the Tokyo Olympics next year, he added.
The mobile communications segment, which made the largest revenue contribution at 46.47 percent, saw revenue rise 0.7 percent to NT$23.63 billion due to robust sales of Apple Inc’s iPhone 11 smartphones, the company said.
“The overall performance of iPhone sales [has been] better than that of last year,” Kuo said, adding that the trend will likely continue into this quarter.
“However, prices have been set lower to encourage sales,” he added.
A significant increase in the number of mobile subscribers to a NT$999 monthly bundle plan also contributed to revenue, Kuo said, adding that back-to-school plans rolled out during summer vacation boosted subscriptions.
However, performance in the fourth quarter would fall below guidance, Kuo said, citing strong competition, a decline in broadband customers, and a delay in revenue from its information and communications technology projects for enterprise customers.
The company said EPS this year is forecast to be between NT$4.4 and NT$4.6, compared with NT$4.58 last year.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure