Citing the global economic condition and the increasing market competition, Chunghwa Telecom reported that total revenue for the first quarter of 2009 decreased by 3.6% year-over-year to NT$49.1 billion, of which 26.7% was from fixed-line services, 35.8% was from mobile services, 25.4% was from Internet and data services, and the remainder was mainly from handset sales from Chunghwa's subsidiary SENAO on a consolidated basis.
For the mobile business, total revenue for the first quarter of 2009 amounted to NT$17.6 billion, representing a decline of 3.1% year-over-year. The Internet and data revenue slightly decreased by 0.5% year-over-year to NT$12.5 billion, mainly because of the tariff cut for ISP and ADSL services.
The fixed-line revenue totaled NT$13.1 billion, decreasing 8.9% year-over- year. The local and domestic long distance revenues were decreased by 6.2% and 10.1% respectively, for the first quarter of 2009. These decreases were mainly due to the overall economic downturn, mobile and VOIP substitution. The international long distance revenue was decreased by 14.4% year-over-year, as a result of the overall economic downturn, VOIP substitution and the market competition.
Dr. Shyue-Ching Lu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chunghwa Telecom commented, "For the first quarter of 2009, we continued to executive on our strategic focus of maintaining market leadership for our core services as well as expanding our digital-converged services such as broadband and mobile value-added services, MOD/IPTV, and key enterprise solutions. As a result, we are able to stabilize our top-line performance under the current adverse economic situation."
Some highlights for the period:
- The capex for the first quarter of 2009 amounted NT$4.7 billion, a 13.8% decrease compared to that for the same period in 2008. Among the NT$4.7 billion capex, 73.6% was for wireline and 17.0% was for wireless.
- As of the end of March 2009, total HiNet subscribers decreased 0.4% year- over-year. Overall, the company had 4.3 billion broadband subscribers (including ADSL and FTTx subscribers) at the end of March 2009, representing a 0.6% growth year-over-year. By the end of the first quarter of 2009, FTTx subscriptions with an average service speed of 10Mbps reached 1.19 million, representing 27.7% of total broadband subscribers.
- As of the end of the first quarter of 2009, Chunghwa had 686,000 MOD subscribers, equivalent to 57.6% year-over-year increase.
- As of March 31, 2009, Chunghwa had 8.98 million mobile subscribers, up 2.9% compared to 8.72 million as of the first quarter of 2008.
- Chunghwa remained the leading mobile operator in Taiwan. According to statistics published by the ROC National Communications Commission, the company's total subscriber market share (including 2G, 3G and PHS) was 35.1%, while the company's mobile revenue share was 34.0% as of the end of February 2009.
- As of March 31, 2009, Chunghwa had 3.85 million 3G subscribers, representing a 48.9% increase as compared to that of the end of March 2008.
- Mobile VAS revenue for the first quarter of 2009 was NT$2.05 billion, posting a 18.5% increase year-over-year. Of this increase, SMS revenue was up 12.9% and mobile Internet revenue increased by 49.6% year-over-year, respectively.
- As of the end of the first quarter of 2009, the company maintained its leading fixed-line market position, with fixed-line subscribers totaling 12.66 million. According to statistics published by the ROC National Communications Commission, the company's fixed line subscriber market share was 97.3%.
