Thaicom satellite revenue suffering
February 12, 2019
By Chris Forrester
Thailand’s satellite operator Thaicom Public Company is finding local satellite competition tough, and profits reduced as a result. Thaicom also operates the iPStar bundle of services in many countries including Singapore, Australia, Japan, India and elsewhere.
Revenue fell 10.2 per cent last year to $190.6 million, although group profitability was helped by the operator selling its 42.07 per cent stake in local internet and services business CS Loxinfo PCL. Thaicom has operations in 10 countries; Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos PDR, Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius, the British Virgin Islands, Japan and India. Locally it operates under a license issued Thailand’s National Broadcast & Telecoms Commission, and which will run to – at least – 2032.
The fall in trading revenue was put down to: “the decrease of price per unit sold following the industry downtrend and the churn of major customers during 2017.”
The company said: “Revenue from the Thaicom conventional satellites and related services for 2018 was Baht 3,565 million, dropped by 4.3 per cent from Baht 3,726 million for 2017. Despite, consistent utilization from conventional satellites, the price per unit has decreased following the slowdown of industry trends.”
“Revenue from the Thaicom 4 Broadband Satellite and related services was Baht 2,284 million for 2018, down by 16.9 per cent from Baht 2,748 million for 2017. This was mainly contributed by the churn of major customers during 2017.”