TAIPEI: Chunghwa Telecom Co yesterday posted 2.1 percent annual growth in net profit for last month primarily on lower 4G equipment depreciation costs, making it the most profitable telecom operator among its local peers.
Net profit expanded to NT$3.82 billion (US$106 million) last month, compared with NT$3.74 billion in February last year, according to a company statement.
That translated into earnings per share of NT$0.49, up from NT$0.48 a year ago.
Operating expenses fell 3.1 percent to NT$14.49 billion last month, from NT$14.95 billion in the year prior, thanks to lower hardware and depreciation costs primarily for its 4G equipment and license fee, as well as lower Internet interconnection fees.
Revenue inched up 0.2 percent annually to NT$19.13 billion last month from NT$19.09 billion in February last year.
Chunghwa Telecom said last month’s results helped it make good progress in hitting its earnings per share target of NT$1.25 for the first quarter. The company’s accumulated earnings per share of NT$1.05 in the first two months achieve 84 percent of its quarterly projection.
Taiwan Mobile Co, the nation’s No. 2 telecom company, yesterday reported an annual growth rate of 8 percent in net profit to NT$1.24 billion for last month, from NT$1.16 billion in February last year, a company statement said.
Earnings per share climbed to NT$0.46 from NT$0.42, the statement showed. That brought the company’s earnings per share in the first two months to NT$0.92, reaching 76 percent of its EPS projection of NT$1.21 for the current quarter.
The growth “mainly came from profit improvement from mobile business and from steady profit increase from its cable TV and retail business,” Taiwan Mobile spokesperson Rosie Yu said.
Revenue dropped 0.42 percent to NT$9.43 billion last month from NT$9.47 billion one year earlier.
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co, the nation’s No. 3 telecom operator, posted an annual decrease of 4.73 percent in net profit to NT$947 million, or NT$0.29 a share, last month, compared with NT$994 million, or NT$0.3 a share, a year earlier.
From January to last month, earnings per share totaled NT$0.61. Revenue shrank 6.8 percent to NT$7.68 billion last month from NT$8.24 billion in February last year.
Far EasTone said the number of its 4G users has outpaced that of 3G users, accounting for more than 50 percent of the company’s post-paid mobile subscribers.
