Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) reported an annual increase in revenue and net profit for the first two months of this year, bucking a downtrend in the industry amid high 5G spectrum costs and price competition.
The company’s net profit increased 11.5 percent to NT$2.27 billion (US$75.43 million) for the two months from NT$2.04 billion a year earlier. That translated into earnings per share of NT$0.81, up from NT$0.75 last year.
Revenue increased 7.12 percent to NT$21.36 billion for the first two months, up from NT$19.94 billion a year earlier, Taiwan Mobile said in a statement on Tuesday.
The company attributed the growth to the contribution of its e-commerce unit, Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體), which posted a 33 percent annual expansion in revenue, as people staying at home amid the coronavirus crisis shopped more online or on TV shopping channels.
During January and last month, Taiwan Mobile had higher earnings per share than Chunghwa Telecom Co’s (中華電信) NT$0.73 and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co’s (遠傳電信) NT$0.44.
The company’s financials “show that the company is the only telecom that managed to increase revenue and net profit,” Taiwan Mobile president Jamie Lin (林之晨) wrote on Facebook yesterday.
Strong growth at Momo.com helped the company sidestep a slump in the telecom industry, Lin added.
Chunghwa Telecom’s net profit in the first two months fell 3.2 percent year-on-year to NT$5.64 billion from NT$5.82 billion a year earlier, while revenue fell 4.6 percent to NT$32.57 billion from NT$34.15 billion, a company statement said on Tuesday.
Far EasTone’s net profit in the first two months fell 2.03 percent year-on-year to NT$1.45 billion from NT$1.48 billion a year earlier, while revenue fell 5.5 percent to NT$13.05 billion from NT$13.81 billion.
Telecoms need to own between 80 megahertz (MHz) and 100MHz on the 5G spectrum to deliver high-speed data transmission, Far EasTone said last week, hinting that Taiwan Mobile might no longer be one of the nation’s big three telecoms after it secured 60MHz of 5G bandwidth in the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) band in the national auction, smaller than Far EasTone’s 80MHz of bandwidth and Chunghwa Telecom’s 100MHz.
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