Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecoms operator, yesterday posted a slower-than-expected decline in net profits for last year as faster growth in corporate customers partly offset a continuous price fall.
For the full year last year, Chunghwa Telecom earned NT$43.72 billion (US$1.38 billion), beating the company’s previous forecast of NT$42.49 billion, the company said in a statement.
“We did quite well in landing corporate projects in December. That helped us expand business in the landline, mobile and ICT businesses,” Shen Fu-fu (沈馥馥), an official at the company’s investor relation department, said by telephone.
Compared with 2008, the company’s net income dropped 2.87 percent from a revised NT$45.01 billion. Revenues fell 1.5 percent year-on-year to NT$184.03 billion last year.
Decreases both in voice price and usage of telecom services amid the economic downturn were the main reasons behind the decline, Shen said.
ANNUAL CUT
Expecting price competition in the nation’s saturated telecoms market, the National Communications Commission has requested a 4.88 percent annual cut in mobile voice fees over the three-year period that began in 2007.
The commission renewed the three-year price reduction plan last week by expanding the price cuts to mobile voice charges on 3G technology and SMS messages.
Initially, the cut only applied to 2G communication.
Local telecoms operators will therefore have to cut the mobile voice fee by 5.87 percent year-on-year from April.
INTERNET
Local phone companies will also have to lower Internet connection services fees by 5.69 percent.
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation’s No. 3 mobile carrier, said in a press release yesterday that its net income was NT$9.23 billion.
That represented a 9 percent decrease from earnings of NT$10.16 billion in 2008. Revenues shrank about 4 percent year-on-year to NT$60.06 billion last year.
Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) last week said its earnings contracted at a annual rate of 9 percent last year to NT$13.89 billion.
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