TRUE Corp. Quarter 3

True in major expansion drive

Nation (16 November 2007)

New services on tap for group's flagship businesses

True Corp will spend between Bt8 billion and Bt10 billion next year on network expansion and new services for the group's units.

CEO Supachai Chearavanont yesterday said most of the budget would go towards extending the networks of its flagship businesses: cellular operator True Move, pay-television operator True Visions and broadband-Internet provider True Internet.

"The spending will come from True's [internal] cash flow," he said.

If the National Telecom-munications Commission (NTC) grants the company a licence for either third-generation (3G) broadband cellular or Wi-Max broadband wireless-Internet service by next year, True will need Bt10 billion to Bt15 billion more over three years to develop 3G or Wi-Max service.

The NTC has yet to finish drafting its 3G-spectrum licensing terms.

Supachai said True was interested more in Wi-Max than in 3G, due to possible lower development costs.

True, together with US giant chip manufacturer Intel, have finished testing the Wi-Max technology.

The NTC recently consented to the telecoms that already have certain frequencies to trial Wi-Max. They are True, TOT and Shin Satellite.

Commissioner Sethaporn Cusripituck said the licensing body is waiting for the three companies to submit the test results for the NTC to develop Wi-Max licensing terms and regulations, which he expects to be ready by yearend.

Supachai said that soon wireless payment service provider True Money will become the group's rising star.

True has been planning to introduce a SIM card with embedded radio-frequency identification technology next year. Users of mobile phones with such SIM cards can simply swipe the devices at retail counters or Skytrain gates to conduct such financial transactions as bill payments.

True has joined with Chinese information-technology vendor Watchdata to develop the cards, which are being showcased at its booth at the Bangkok International ICT Expo 2007. The fair runs from today to next Tuesday at Impact Muang Thong Thani.

True posted a third-quarter consolidated net profit of Bt1.2 billion, compared with a net loss of Bt595 million in the second quarter and a net loss of Bt1.2 billion in last year's third quarter. The improvement was due largely to a sharp decrease in depreciation expenses from longer estimated useful lives of True's assets, better reflecting their economic lives.

Meanwhile, TOT plans to file a civil lawsuit soon against True Move and Total Access Communication (DTAC) for their refusal to pay it access charges.

Supachai said the state enterprise had the right to do that, while DTAC chief executive Sigve Brekke said it was not unexpected.

DTAC and True Move stopped paying access charges to TOT last November and have adopted the NTC's interconnection charge regulations instead. Their outstanding access charges have reached about Bt10 billion.

The access charge had been paid by three cellular operators under CAT Telecom - DTAC, True Move and Digital Phone - to TOT for connecting to other networks via TOT's facilities.
Interconnection-charge regulations require the telecoms to share revenue from voice and data calls between networks.

True profits better than anticipated

Bangkok Post (16 November 2007)

True Corp Plc, the country's only integrated telecoms firm, reported an unexpected net profit in the third quarter due to lower depreciation costs and a surge of new mobile phone subscribers.
True, which owns a majority stake in True Move, the third-largest mobile phone operator, posted a net profit of 1.2 billion baht (0.27 baht per share) compared with a loss of 1.22 billion baht a year earlier.

That surprised six analysts polled by Reuters who had forecast on average a net loss of 820 million baht as they had expected only a slight decline in expenses following True's accounting changes.

However, the charges resulted in an 18% drop in operating expenses and depreciation expenses, falling about 30% in the quarter, the company said.

Revenues rose 20% to 15.5 billion baht, helped by higher interconnection fee revenues, it said.
True Move, whose service revenues account for half of True Corp's, said it gained a net 2.1 million new subscribers in the quarter and now had 11.2 million, or a 35% share of the Thai market.

True, which competes with market leader Advanced Info Service and No. 2 DTAC, said its broadband customers rose 22,000 to 526,000 and it had 597,000 cable television subscribers.
True shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 7.30 baht, up 15 satang, in trade worth 186.7 million baht. REUTERS