Total Access Communication (DTAC), the country's third-largest mobile operator by subscribers, saw an increase of 164,000 subscribers in the second quarter, leading to 0.9% quarterly growth of service revenue, excluding interconnection charges (IC) to 14.3 billion baht.
At the end of the second quarter, the total subscriber count stood at 19.2 million. The company attributed the rise of new customers to its focus on expansion in the country's mass segment and investment in the low-band network.
Despite a quarterly growth of revenue, the company saw a 2.4% year-on-year drop in its earnings, excluding IC.
Its Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) in the second quarter rose 7.9% quarterly and declined 0.5% year-on-year to 8 billion baht.
The firm reported 1.5 billion baht in net profit, a quarterly rise of 86.2% and a year-on-year decline of 19%.
"Our net addition of customers, consisting of both prepaid and postpaid users, reflects the successful execution of our strategy to capture a higher share of the Thai segment," said Nakul Sehgal, DTAC's chief financial officer.
"We have achieved two consecutive quarters of revenue growth and at the same time continued momentum in our cost efficiency programmes, with focus on structural cost reduction."
By the end of the second quarter, the company had invested 7 billion baht in network expansion year-to-date.
According to DTAC, its service revenue, excluding IC, throughout this year is expected to see flat growth or a low single-digit decline. Capital expenditure is estimated at 13-15 billion baht this year.
Sharad Mehrotra, chief executive of DTAC, said its 700-megahertz spectrum band covers more than 80% of Thailand's population with over 9,000 stations, which supports the improvement of customer experience.
The rise of 700MHz range coverage contributes to an overall 3% improvement in indoor coverage and a 5% reduction in customer complaints, he said.
"We also extended 5G services to three more cities in addition to our previous launch in six cities," he said.
Mr Mehrotra said DTAC's business, which was re-launched last year, posted double-digit year-on-year growth in new clients and revenues from various business solutions.
"Our focus is to help Thai SMEs and businesses embark on a digital transformation journey," he said.
"Through partnerships with key industry partners, we are working to identify and commercialise new solutions that support resilient transition for consumers in the new era. Not only that, our efficiency programmes are set to bring further operational cost savings."