CityNews – AIS ends the second quarter with an increasing net profit and a 20 milliont baht budget for investment in the pipeline.
AIS recently reported the company’s performance in the second quarter, with a dazzling net profit of 8.2 billion baht, a 2.9% increase from last year, and an 8.1% increase from the previous quarter. The main business is mobile phones, with 41.5 million phone numbers owned in the market. 4G users are counted at 66%, while data usage grew from 8.9 gigabytes per month last year to 11.5 gigabytes per month this year. AIS Fibre is reported to have grown 26% in revenue, with 855,400 subscribers in over 57 provinces nationwide. The target is to reach one million subscribers by the end of this year. The increase in revenue caused the average revenue per user (ARPU) to rise to 263 baht per month.
AIS will maintain a dividend policy of minimum 70% net profit, and has announced to pay the interim dividend at 3.78 baht per share on September 3rd.
Somchai Lertsuthiwong, the chief executive, has emphasised that the company will lead the business transformation in the digital disruption era as a “Digital Life Service Provider.” AIS has set a 20 – 25 billlion baht budget for the investment in 4G and broadband network.
AIS is also developing 5G technology as follows:
- Research and development in 5G technology with public and private sectors, along with educational institutions across the country to enhance the competency.
- Allocate the 700MHz, a low-frequency which is a standard of 5G technology. It is expected to be available in October next year.
- Expand B2B to efficiently cover the whole supply chain under the strategic “Solutions, Services and System Integration”
- Develop IoT to enhance the potential of Thai entrepreneurship with a collaboration with Thai Thai Wiwat Insurance.