Nonthaburi, Thailand - THAICOM Public Company Limited, Asia’s leading commercial satellite operator reported its total revenues for the first half of the year, ended June 30, 2010, were Baht 3.43 billion. Revenues from the satellite business and related services increased 9.1%, while revenues from internet and media increased 26.5%, compared to the same period of last year.
Revenues from THAICOM 4 were Baht 1.20 billion for the first half of 2010, an increase of 19.5% from the same period last year mainly due to the 43.6% rise of bandwidth revenue coming from Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia. Revenues from THAICOM 2 and 5 satellites and related services were Baht 1.15 billion, an increase of 0.1% from the first six months of 2009. As of the end of the second quarter of 2010, the Company has a total of 304 television channels on its platforms.
As of the end of the second quarter of 2010, total subscribers from telephone business services in Cambodia (MFone Co., Ltd.) and Laos (Lao Telecommunications Co., Ltd.) increased by 0.3% over the same period of last year with the total of 2,060,230 subscribers. Last year saw fierce price competition among mobile operators in Cambodia. However, the Cambodian government has set the minimum tariff to control the mobile usage price in the market since December 2009. Mfone’s strategy shifts from price competition and focuses on SIM packages that cater to specific target markets to increase the number of subscribers.
In the internet access and media businesses, total revenues were Baht 258 million, an increase of 26.5% from the first six months of last year. In addition, a total of 721,315 DTV satellite dish sets were sold since its launch in mid 2007, an increase of 280,571 sets sold from the same period of last year.
According to THAICOM’s consolidated financial statements, the Company recorded a net loss of Baht 151 million with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of Baht 533 million. THAICOM’s Debt-to-Equity Ratio is 0.57. The Company’s net cash inflow from operating activities for the first six months of 2010 was Baht 1.13 billion. As of June 30, 2010, THAICOM reported an ending cash of Baht 1.49 billion.
In August 2010, CS LOXINFO Plc. (CSL) announced to pay an interim dividend for the first six months ended June 30th, 2010 of Baht 0.25 per share.
In addition, THAICOM announced the Company has signed an approximately five-year transponder leasing renewal contract with MCOT Public Company Limited (MCOT), one of the largest national broadcasters in Thailand. This renewal contract will be valid until 2018, with the total value of the contract worth approximately US$22 million. MCOT is leasing transponders on THAICOM 5 satellite including C-band global beam (36 MHz) and regional beam (11 MHz).
MCOT is also one of the longest running customers of THAICOM. It has been leasing transponders on THAICOM 2 satellite since 1997. Earlier this year, MCOT transferred its traffic on the THAICOM 2 satellite, which is expected to end its service life this year, to the THAICOM 5 satellite. It uses the C-band transponder for transmitting both television and radio channels nationwide to more than seven million household viewers presently.
Nongluck Phinainitisart, D.Eng., president of THAICOM Plc. said, “First of all we would like to thank MCOT for their continued trust in our service on the THAICOM Satellite platform. MCOT is one of our long-term customers on THAICOM and we look forward to continuing to serve this major broadcaster in Thailand as they look to expand their services. We foresee continued growth in the broadcast satellite sector in this region for many years to come with the deployment of more advance and efficient technologies such as MPEG-4, IPTV, HDTV and 3D TV.”
Presently, MCOT Plc. broadcasts three channels including Modern Nine TV, Asean TV and MCOT 1.
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