Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) yesterday said revenue this year would grow up to 2.8 percent year-on-year, bolstered by the continued migration of 4G subscribers to high-speed 5G services.
Annual revenue, which grew 3 percent last year to NT$216.74 billion (US$7.3 billion), would continue to expand to between NT$221.27 billion and NT$222.79 billion, the nation’s biggest telecom said.
The company’s monthly subscriber fees last month surged as 4G users switched to 5G services, which helped boost its mobile services revenue in the final quarter of the year by 5.8 percent sequentially, the telecom said.
Photo courtesy of Chunghwa Telecom Co
“We are optimistic about our progress in 5G penetration. The market has been developing in a positive [direction]. We believe that will contribute to our revenue modestly,” Chunghwa Telecom chief financial officer Chen Yu-shen (陳宇紳) said in response to an investor’s question about its 5G business’ revenue contribution and 5G penetration rate this year.
The company expects its 5G penetration rate to climb further this year, but it declined to disclose its internal target.
As of Nov. 30 last year, Chunghwa Telecom had accumulated about 2.39 million 5G users, the most among local telecom operators. That accounted for 21.73 percent of the company’s total mobile users of 11 million, National Communications Commission’s statistics showed.
The telecom industry’s consolidation would further push up 5G adoption, Chunghwa Telecom president Harrison Kuo (郭水義) said yesterday.
The commission last month conditionally approved Taiwan Mobile Co’s (台灣大哥大) plan to take over Taiwan Star Telecom Co (台灣之星). It also approved Far EasTone Telecommunications Co’s (遠傳電信) plan to acquire Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信).
This change in the competitive landscape “will be positive for Taiwan’s telecom industry, as it will help market development and overall 5G adoption, as well as enhance growth,” Kuo said.
Chunghwa Telecom said it expects net profit this year to contract between 1.2 and 5.4 percent to between NT$34.55 billion and NT$36.1 billion, from NT$36.52 billion last year. Earnings per share would drop to between NT$4.45 and NT$4.65 from NT$4.71 last year, it said.
Operating costs and expenses would increase by 3.9 percent to 4.3 percent annually to between NT$176.6 billion and NT$177.29 billion this year, the company said.
Capital expenditure this year would grow 12 percent to about NT$35.32 billion from NT$31.53 billion last year, with about NT$23.35 billion to be allocated for non-
mobile businesses, such as deployment of new undersea cables, Internet data centers and fiber optics.
As investment in 5G base stations has peaked, Chunghwa Telecom said it plans to spend NT$11.97 billion on 5G-related services and ecosystem development.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS