Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s largest telecom, yesterday posted a net profit of NT$8.32 billion (US$276.38 million), or earnings per share of NT$1.07, a 0.4 percent year-on-year decline that saw its earnings per share fall behind long-term rival Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大).
Revenue in the first quarter fell 6.2 percent year-on-year to NT$48.15 billion, operating income grew 1.2 percent to NT$10.53 billion, while pretax profit increased 1.3 percent to NT$10.69 billion.
While blaming the decline on weaker sales of smartphones, fewer enterprise and government projects, as well as falling demand for international data and mobile services, the company said that the results still surpassed its expectations.
Taiwan Mobile Co yesterday posted a net profit of NT$3.32 billion for last quarter, or earnings per share of NT$1.18, a 7.9 percent year-on-year increase.
Revenue in the first quarter of the year increased 6.6 percent year-on-year to NT$31.85 billion.
Taiwan Mobile chief financial officer Rosie Yu (俞若奚) attributed the growth to an increase in contributions from its subsidiary Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體), which specializes in e-commerce.
Boosted by a spike in sales last month, the online retailer yesterday posted a 28.7 percent year-on-year surge in revenue to NT$15.11 billion for last quarter.
“Sales of cloud-based and Internet of Things services, and domestic leased circuits are growing,” Yu said about the company’s telecom business.
“Revenue and operating income have continued to grow over the past three quarters,” she said, adding that the first-quarter results had fulfilled the company’s expectations.
Meanwhile, Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) yesterday posted a net profit of NT$2.17 billion, or earnings per share of NT$0.67, a 2.69 percent year-on-year decline.
Revenue fell 6.87 percent year-on-year to NT$19.39 billion.
The company said that its first-quarter sales missed its expectations by 3 percent after shipments of smartphones were negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the telecom reported an 87 percent increase in sales from enterprise and government projects for last month, as well as a 155 percent increase in sales related to cybersecurity tools.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last