AIS revenue growth for 2021 up 4.9%, profit slips

AIS revenue growth for 2021 up 4.9%, profit slips

SET-listed Advanced Info Service (AIS), the country's largest mobile operator by subscriber base, registered year-on-year revenue growth of 4.9% to 181 billion baht in 2021, buoyed by core service revenue improvement and a rise in handset sales.

The company booked net profit of 26.9 billion baht in 2021, a slight decline of 1.9% year-on-year.

AIS saw core service revenue, including mobile, fixed broadband and other services, improve 1.1% year-on-year to 131 billion baht.

The company registered 117 billion baht in mobile business revenue, a slight drop of 0.7% year-on-year, weighed down by economic conditions and weak consumer spending during the latest wave of the pandemic.

AIS managed to gain 2.68 million users in 2021. The total subscriber base reached 44.1 million, including 2.2 million 5G subscribers.

The company booked robust growth of 21% in home broadband business to 8.4 billion baht in 2021, driven by strong subscriber growth from people working and studying from home.

Its fixed broadband business gained 435,100 net additions in 2021, reaching 1.77 million subscribers, exceeding its target of 1.6 million.

AIS booked 24% growth year-on-year in SIM and device sales to 36.5 billion baht in 2021.

The company's enterprise revenue showed a strong growth of 18% year-on-year in 2021, when it made a new strategic partnership with Microsoft in cloud service to enhance its enterprise service capabilities.

"We continued to develop a comprehensive digital ecosystem during last year by collaborating with leading international and local partnerships," said Somchai Lertsutiwong, chief executive of AIS.

"These supported our company to deliver a solid performance in 2021, together with the commitment of our employees who drive the company as a market leader in all dimensions, including quality and superior service."

The company's acquisition of 700-megahertz and 26-gigahertz spectrum licences resulted in a year-on-year cost increase of 4.5% in 2021.

However, Mr Somchai said, the company's effective cost management in selling, marketing and admin expenses led to Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of 91.4 billion baht in 2021, up 2.2% year-on-year.

The company is set to pay an interim dividend of 4.24 baht per share on April 19.

AIS indicated it plans to allocate 30-35 billion baht of investment to uplift network quality and capture growth opportunity in 2022.

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