Advanced Info Service Plc (AIS) is maintaining its growth target of 4% this year even though the fourth-generation (4G) spectrum auctions will not be held this year.
"We're not revising down our initial revenue target, as we did not include any revenue from the 4G mobile broadband service," said Nattiya Poapongsakorn, AIS's head of investor relations.
AIS plans to spend 40 billion baht to add 4,000 3G base stations this year, bringing its total to 29,000, in a significant drive to enhance its 3G network quality.
"We intend to maintain our lead in the local mobile market at a 52% share this year by focusing on strengthening the quality of our 3G network and service in the absence of the 4G auctions," Ms Nattiya said.
Adding small cell sites in high-density use areas will also pave the way for the roll-out of its 4G network.
AIS is on the verge of doubling the number of its WiFi hotspots to 48,000 locations this year while increasing its WiFi speed to 650 megabits per second thanks to the new generation of technology.
Ms Nattiya said AIS could start providing 4G commercial service in four months after the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission granted it an operating licence.
She said AIS had lost a 2% share of the mobile market to its smaller rivals last year due to the slow deployment of its 3G network roll-out.
AIS is preparing to launch its fixed-based broadband service next month, expecting 80,000 subscribers this year generating 56 million baht in revenue.
As of last Dec 31, AIS had 44.5 million subscribers. Of the total, 22 million were customers using 3G service on the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum, 3.5 million using 3G on the 900-MHz spectrum and 19 million using 2G services on the 2.1-GHz spectrum.
Ms Nattiya said AIS was placing greater effort on increasing the number of 3G users by getting existing 2G users to shift to 3G.
The company plans to enhance 3G device penetration to 70% this year from 55%.
Ms Nattiya said to achieve the revenue growth target, AIS must increase its mobile data revenue by 30% this year to offset the decline in voice income.
Overall voice service is expected to continue declining by 9-10% this year.
In comparison, average mobile data use per user per month surged 155% to 1,600 megabytes last year.
AIS achieved revenue of 118 billion baht last year, up by 1.2% in 2013, thanks to a 34% increase in data revenue.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation grew by 4.3% to 66.4 billion baht due to a sharp reduction of regulatory costs as operators shift from concession-based payment to a licence regime.
Kim Siritaweechai, executive vice-president for portfolio management at InTouch Holdings, AIS's parent firm, said the company was optimistic the 4G auctions would take place by the third quarter, as the government needed to accelerate development of the digital economy.
AIS is in talks with concession owner TOT Plc to use the state telecom's 10 Mhz bandwidth on the 2.1-GHz spectrum to provide 4G wireless broadband service, he added.
AIS shares (ADVANC) closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 227 baht, down 10 baht, in heavy trade worth 4.36 billion baht.