The newly appointed group chief executive of True Corporation has outlined his mission for the first 100 days, writing a new chapter for the telecom company by continuing its profitability, driving operations of trusted services, and strengthening data centre development.
Sigve Brekke vowed True would pay a dividend in 2025 for the first time in more than 25 years as the company has retired all accumulated losses.
He also stressed the need to increase True's revenue.
The company reported net profit after tax of 1.6 billion baht for the first quarter of 2025, marking a milestone turnaround within two years of its amalgamation with Total Access Communication (dtac). Excluding the impact from one-off items, the normalised profit for the first quarter was 4.3 billion baht.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation have continued to improve since the merger, driven by a reduction in operational expenses from performance focus and financial discipline, along with ongoing benefits from synergies.
"Bringing together True and dtac was an astonishing feat. We united two industry leaders with a sharp focus on performance, financial discipline and synergies, we modernised our networks, and infused AI [artificial intelligence] into customer touchpoints," said Mr Brekke.
However, he said he is not satisfied with net profit and performance as the company has to compete with a rival and improve service standards.
In the first quarter this year, the company's mobile subscribers declined by 638,000, or 1.3% from the previous quarter, totalling 48.8 million.
Mobile subscribers declined 4.4% year-on-year due to the focus on quality subscriber acquisition in 2024, said Mr Brekke.
Mobile postpaid subscribers increased 0.2% quarter-on-quarter to 15.3 million for the period, while mobile prepaid subscribers declined by 2.0%, tallying 33.5 million due to seasonality, according to True.
Online subscribers increased 0.7% quarter-on-quarter to 3.8 million, while 5G subscribers tallied 14.2 million.
Mr Brekke said increasing True's prepaid subscribers and revenue is a crucial mission for the company, particularly as it competes with rival Advanced Info Service (AIS).
He started as group chief executive of True on March 11. On March 1, Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group appointed the Norwegian as executive chairman of the telecom and digital business.
Mr Brekke said CP Group, through its subsidiary True Internet Data Centre, recently partnered with Global Infrastructure Partners under BlackRock in a move to jointly invest in a digital infrastructure project worth between US$3-5 billion to serve Thailand's digital economy.
Strengthening data centre development through partnerships is one of Mr Brekke's missions.
"A merger is a marathon, but we have to sprint," he said.
DRIVING TRANSFORMATION
Mr Brekke unveiled three strategic moves to fuel the company's growth, focusing on customers, leveraging technology, and empowering staff.
The company will ensure a good customer experience by accelerating the integration of systems between True and dtac, modernising and expanding service centres, and delivering a reliable and future-proof network, he said.
True will raise awareness among businesses and the public about the potential of AI to stimulate widespread adoption, said Mr Brekke.
The company also aims to create a unified organisational culture, ensuring that every approach places the customer at the heart of everything it does.