Liu Ruohong, CEO of Digitong Telecom, revealed that in January of this year, the company's roaming revenue had recovered to about 90% before the epidemic. Among them, the roaming business for individual users had completely resumed, and there is still room for growth in commercial roaming users.
The Zhitong Finance App learned that on February 22, Digitong Telecom (00315) announced results for the six months ended December 31, 2023. The group achieved revenue of HK$3.39 billion during the period, a year-on-year decrease of 10.99%, mainly due to the decline in mobile phone and accessories sales revenue during the period. Liu Ruohong, CEO of Digitong Telecom, revealed that in January of this year, the company's roaming revenue had recovered to about 90% before the pandemic. Among them, the roaming business for individual users has fully recovered, and there is still room for growth in commercial roaming users. It is expected that with the recovery of regional commercial activities and more international conference events being held in Hong Kong, it is believed that overall roaming revenue will return close to pre-pandemic levels this year.
In the first half of the fiscal year, Digitong Telecom contributed to the company's shareholders' profit of HK$246 million, a year-on-year decrease of 3.92%; basic profit per share of HK22.2 cents; and a proposed interim dividend of HK14.5 cents per share, the same as last year. Liu Ruohong said that the company has maintained stable dividend payments for the past three to five years, and there are no plans to repurchase in the future. During the period, Digitcom Telecom's roaming revenue increased 64% year over year, returning to about 86% of pre-pandemic levels. The increase was driven by strong demand from high-end customers for Digitom data roaming products. Compared to before the pandemic, the percentage of customers choosing to use Digitcom roaming services over third-party services has more than doubled.
In the first half of the fiscal year, the average revenue per user (ARPU) and number of customers of the Digitcom mobile service monthly subscription plan both increased by 1%, to HK$224 and 2,650,000, respectively. 5G service customers accounted for 38% of the total number of customers, an increase of 5% over December 2022. Excluding mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), SMS and prepaid services, service revenue increased by 3%, mainly due to a strong recovery in roaming business and continued growth in 5G home broadband products and enterprise application solutions, offsetting the pressure brought about by fierce competition in the Hong Kong mobile services market.
Liu Ruohong explained that although roaming revenue recorded an increase of about 64% during the period, competition in the low-end market from mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) was intense, which had an impact on the overall ARPU. Liu Ruohong said that the monthly fee plan for core mobile services recorded a low percentage decline in the number of units during the ARPU period, and the company will continue to increase ARPU by maintaining quality services and increasing product cross-sales.