Total Access Communication (DTAC), the country's third largest mobile operator, reported second-quarter service revenue of 14.6 billion baht, excluding interconnection (IC) charges, down 3.6% year-on-year and 4.5% quarterly, weighed down by the apex of the pandemic during the period.
"The second quarter was marked by the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, including a month-long shop closure and nationwide lockdown," said Sharad Mehrotra, chief executive of DTAC.
"The crisis had a direct impact on revenues from the tourist and migrant segments, international roaming and new acquisitions, and an overall decline in customer spending."
He said the pandemic resulted in customer behaviour changes in terms of data usage and adoption of digital channels.
"Having remained 100% operational throughout the crisis, we are now in a position to accelerate our digital transformation," said Mr Mehrotra.
DTAC said it had 18.8 million subscribers at the end of the second quarter, the period that saw a subscriber loss of 835,000. The loss was attributed to lower acquisition from shop closure.
According to the mobile operator, monthly active user numbers started dropping from the first quarter of this year because of a drop in tourists.
Second-quarter core service revenues, which cover voice and data, fell 3.3% quarterly and 1.1% year-on-year to 14.2 billion baht.
The company said its Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) in the second quarter grew 5.1% quarterly and 4.2% year-on-year to 8.1 billion baht from better cost control.
Its net profit amounted to 1.9 billion baht in the second quarter, up 25.8% quarterly and 20% year-on-year.
DTAC chief financial officer Dilip Pal said the company managed profitability growth both sequentially and year-on-year through cost optimisation efforts.
"With uncertainty on top-line growth, we will maintain our momentum on cost optimisation for the rest of the year while strictly following our core approach to provide value-driven offerings and the best network experience to our customers," said Mr Pal.
DTAC revised the outlook of its service revenue, excluding IC, to a low single-digit decline this year as a result of the negative economic outlook.