Dtac lowers sales forecast, sees stronger EBITDA margin

Thai mobile operator Dtac lowered its revenue guidance for the full year, citing the political and economic uncertainty in the country as well as intensified market competition. The Telenor subsidiary previously forecast 3-5 percent revenue growth this year, but tempered this to low single digits. Dtac said it will focus more on margin improvement and widened its EBITDA guidance to 35-37 percent from 35-36 percent previously. Capex was maintained at a minimum THB 13 billion. The operator said its 3G roll-out was already going ahead of plan, with 77 percent population coverage by the end of March. 

In the first quarter, Dtac posted revenue down 6.1 percent year-on-year to THB 22.44 billion, hurt by the reduction in interconnection rates last July. Service revenue excluding interconnection was flat, at THB 17.39 billion. EBITDA rose 10.4 percent to THB 8.26 billion, and the EBITDA margin improved by 5.3 percent points to 36.6 percent, thanks to lower regulatory cost and operational efficiency. Net income was THB 3.30 billion, up 9.1 percent year-on-year. 

Dtac finished the quarter with 28.226 million active customers, up 1.0 percent from the previous quarter and 6.1 percent more than a year earlier. Over half (56%) could use the 3G network, while 32.4 percent were data subscribers. Dtac said customer growth is expected to slow, due to the saturated mobile market and weak consumer confidence. ARPU was down 3.3 percent sequentially and 12.9 percent lower than a year earlier to THB 224 per month.