Somruetai Tantakitti: Result conference call. First, let me introduce our management. CEO คุณปรารถนา.
Pratthana Leelapanang: สวัสดีครับ
Somruetai Tantakitti: Our CFO คุณธีร์ค่ะ
Tee Seeumpornroj: สวัสดีครับ
Somruetai Tantakitti: Chief Mobile Business Officer คุณเลิศชัย.
Lertchai Kodsup: สวัสดีครับ
Somruetai Tantakitti: Chief Broadband Business Officer คุณยอดชาย.
Yordchai Asawathongchai: สวัสดีครับ
Somruetai Tantakitti: Chief Enterprise Business Officer คุณภูผา.
Phupa Akavipat: สวัสดีครับ
Somruetai Tantakitti: Chief Retail Business Officer คุณประภัส. We have Head of Corporate Planning and Strategy คุณณัฐยา. And myself สมวุฒิไท will be briefing you the result and running this session. You may also reserve to ask the question through the chat box, and please type your name and corporate name. Before we begin today's session, let me briefly highlight some of the progress we have made in the strengthening our leadership in digital connectivity. First, on the network front, we continue to enhance our 5G-Advanced capabilities to support growing demand from AI, particularly for uplink.
Somruetai Tantakitti: We have now achieved 5G-Advanced uplink coverage across 100% outdoor areas in Bangkok and major cities across 77 provinces. This would enable upload speed up to twice as fast. In our B2B, with collaboration between Queen Sirikit National Convention Center and our partner to provide digital infrastructure for the recent World Bank Annual Meetings hosted in Thailand. Our network supported reliable and stable connectivity throughout the venue, serving more than 10,000 international guests and participants. Lastly, as part of our network resilience efforts, particularly during the rainy season, we continue to strengthen our network. Our priority is to ensure network availability and maintain service continuity, keeping people and businesses connected even in time of crisis. With that, let's move to the quarterly result brief.
Somruetai Tantakitti: In Q3, despite the typical seasonal slowdown and ongoing economic pressure, AIS continued to deliver resilient revenue growth, supported by resilient demand for connectivity. The mobile business data usage continued to grow at mid-teen level, supporting further 5G adoption and upselling. We also continue to drive cross-selling of value-added service. For fixed broadband, subscriber growth remains strong despite rainy season, while ARPU continued to improve year-over-year, supported by quality subscriber expansion and value-enhancing offerings, including premium content bundles such as the PLAY ALL package.
Somruetai Tantakitti: Enterprise reported revenue was impacted by adjustment in cloud revenue recognition to better reflect the recurring service model. We announced recently that our focus going forward is in managed service strategy for cloud and other enterprise solution. Otherwise, the revenue in enterprise continued to grow both year on year and Q-on-Q, driven by demand for cloud and connectivity services.
Somruetai Tantakitti: On retail front, growth was supported by strong demand for premium smartphones following new model launches, alongside our ongoing efforts to enhance customer experience across both offline and online channels. Overall, we maintain earnings growth despite higher expenses from ongoing investment, supported by resilient revenue expansion. Our result exceed guidance across all key financial metrics. At the same time, we continue to strengthen our financial performances with improving EBITDA and PAT margins, higher ROIC, and lower cost of funds, reflecting our continued focus on prudent financial management.
Somruetai Tantakitti: Despite our strong performance over the nine months, we remain cautious on the economic outlook for Q4. The geopolitical risks remain elevated, while higher living costs continue to weigh on consumer sentiment. Nevertheless, the full-year performance should be both crossing around the upper end of the guidance for core service revenue, and EBITDA would exceed the guidance.
Somruetai Tantakitti: On CapEx, investment remains on track, focusing on strengthening our network infrastructure to support growing demand for connectivity and digital service while further enhancing customer experiences. Now let me move on to an update on our recent investments. Firstly, the expansion into Laos PDR through the acquisition of 49% in Shenington, which is an entity that owns 49% in Lao Telecom, the leading telecom service provider in Laos. Given Laos' strategic location, this investment provides an opportunity to establish a regional connectivity hub, connecting Thailand with regional markets, particularly Vietnam and China. In addition, the Lao Telecom market remains under-penetrated. There are rooms for growth in both subscriber penetration and digital adoption. This provides further opportunities to drive long-term growth for both mobile and broadband and enterprise. We currently expect the transaction to be completed within this year.
Somruetai Tantakitti: On the second update, I would like to highlight another important step, as AIS has taken the recent public release of our data and AI governance policy. We recognize that AI is playing an increasingly important role in both our internal operations and customer services. Beyond what AI can do, what matters equally is how responsibly we use it. This policy represents part of our ongoing efforts to raise awareness and promote the responsible use of AI across the organization, supported by an appropriate governance and consideration of potential risks and impacts on our customers.
Somruetai Tantakitti: Because at AIS, we believe that the true value of AI lies not only in what technology can achieve, but also in how responsibly we use it and the trust we build along the way. This is the end of the short brief. We will start the Q&A session now.
Somruetai Tantakitti: Please be reminded that you may reserve to ask the question through the chat box. Also, please limit yourself to 3 questions at a time to allow others to ask other questions. พี่พิสูจน์ค่ะ.
Pisut Ngamvijitvong: Hello, สวัสดีครับ. Thanks for the opportunity. This is from Kasikorn Securities. I have 3 questions. The first question is on your 2027 earnings outlook. It seems that most of the low-hanging fruit, such as tariff repair, depreciation saving, and spectrum cost reduction, have largely been realized. Meanwhile, you may face new headwinds from higher financing costs and initial losses from new ventures.
Pisut Ngamvijitvong: What will be the key earning growth driver for AIS in 2027? Should we expect earning growth to moderate as these previous benefits gradually fade? That is my first question. My second question is about Lao Telecom. Does this acquisition signal a broader strategy for AIS to expand into overseas market? Could you also clarify the expected annual after-tax earning contributions?
Pisut Ngamvijitvong: And also, how actively does AIS intend to participate in the Lao LTC operations to unlock additional value from this investment? My last question is on some accounting items. For example, the handset sales, the revenues increased by 30%. Could you break it down, the growth into the volume or ASP, average selling price, or contribution from new free-flow products or accessories?
Pisut Ngamvijitvong: Also, another tool regarding the general and admin expense that increased 12% year-on-year and 8% quarter-on-quarter in this quarter. Any one-off, and this is a new recurring cost base going forward. The last thing on lease liability, which increased sharply from THB 75 billion last quarter to THB 104 billion in this quarter. It would be great if you can tell us a bit on what drove this increase, and this is going to impact your depreciation and finance costs going forward. Thank you ครับ
Tee Seeumpornroj: I think on the first one, it is next year outlook. It is a very difficult question right now. We are going through the budget plan for next year. First of all, I think we are still looking for growth. I know that you asked that we already have realized a lot of low-hanging fruits, but we still believe the market can grow in a few directions. Both mobile, we also look to grow. Broadband, also look to grow. Enterprise, we also look to grow. We try to add on new products and services. As you see, we also try to grow in other new businesses as well. In the end, I think we still work on both growing revenue for next year, as well as try to optimize the cost, right?
Tee Seeumpornroj: In the end, I think we will come out with the guideline for next year projection later in the year, once we finalize the business plan for next year. I think on LTC, it does not. You asked whether it changed the direction, whether we are going to do business overseas or not. I think we are starting to look outside, but it has to be something that very relevant to Thailand or leverage more or less the same resources we have in Thailand, right? I think Laos LTC is one of the opportunity that I think one of the shareholders in the joint venture wanted to sell, and we had a chance to look at that. I think that probably as much as I can say.
Tee Seeumpornroj: In terms of the earning right now, because we are going to hold, I think, half of half, and given the size of Lao population, less than 10 million people, and the mobile and broadband penetration, they are still low. So I do not think that the earning at the beginning will be a big contribution to AIS performance overall. But longer term, I think there is a good strategic location or strategic kind of action that we can do to enhance the connectivity in the ASEAN or Mekong sub-region. So I think that is something we look forward to build out. Third one is on the retail, right?
Prapat Siangjan: Yes. The category that drives the growth of the retails is, the number one is also the smartphone, which is led by the Samsung and also the Apple. They grow about 30%. The good news for us is about the AIS Care+ is performed quite well. Once we have the very high price of the smartphone, the Care+ is selling well also. It grows more than 48% comparing to last year. At the same time, the gadget and accessory is also growing at the same rate of the smartphone, is about 30%. All in all, we grow about 30% in total. Yeah.
Somruetai Tantakitti: ค่ะ SG&A นะคะ, there was a low base in Q2 from prudent spending post Middle East war, so the Q-on-Q growth is rationalized. Going forward, we expect that it would be around 9% of the total revenue ค่ะ
Pisut Ngamvijitvong: The last one on lease liability is this.
Somruetai Tantakitti: This is RoU related to NT infrastructure sharing. There is a few components, including roaming up to 2036 and tower rental 20-year contract. The benefit is that we get the contract secured early. The impact is not much. Short term is not significant, slightly positive for the long run ค่ะ So there would be gradual saving year on year for the long run ค่ะ
Pisut Ngamvijitvong: Understood. Thank you very much ครับ
Somruetai Tantakitti: Next we have Wasu from Maybank, please.
Wasu Mattanapotchanart: Hello, and thank you for the call. My first question is about the Q-on-Q revenue growth for the mobile service. I understand that Q3 is normally a low season for the mobile business, but could you please help explain as to why your competitor could grow Q-on-Q by around 0.8% while you are quite flat Q-on-Q when it comes to the mobile revenue growth in the third quarter? That is the first question.
Wasu Mattanapotchanart: The second question is about the brand integration for AIS Fibre and 3BB. What is the progress now? Going forward, would there be any implications for the marketing expenses during the integration and after the brand integration? That is the second question. The third question is about the LEO satellite service. I think 2 months ago or more than that, in August, it was announced that True Corporation was exploring business opportunities with Amazon Leo.
Wasu Mattanapotchanart: My question is AIS in talks with any LEO satellite operators right now? Thank you.
Lertchai Kodsup: From the mobile quarter-on-quarter, we are coming with several factors. The first thing is EPL. Second thing is enterprise. In the enterprise, when we are continuing the contract, they are asking for more discount. The last part is IR, especially the IR for about, there are some drop. In terms of factor, if we take the EPL out, our quarter-on-quarter growth is about 0.6% as well. This is the information in detail. For the AIS and 3BB integration, I think it is nearly completely integrated branding. Now we are completely in the system and with one team for moving forward for the next step. I will report for the next round.
Pratthana Leelapanang: For the satellites, Thaicom, now Gulf Space Tech, has been operating satellites and also collaborating with strategic partners. We will share when the time comes in terms of collaboration with LEO satellite. Right now, Thailand has been very focused on making sure that the country has secure access with the sovereign protection. Moving forward, the LEO operator will also need to bow to Thai law. With that, there will be Amazon, as you mentioned, there will be a few more coming into the role. We will share when the time comes.
Wasu Mattanapotchanart: Thank you.
Somruetai Tantakitti: Next, we have Ranjan from J.P. Morgan.
Ranjan Sharma: Hi, good evening, and thank you for the presentation. As we had thought, the guidance is conservative. Two questions from my side. Firstly, can you help remind us, like how much of your debt is coming due next year and the following year? As that debt comes due, is it fair to assume it gets refinanced
Somruetai Tantakitti: Ranjan, sorry for disturbing. Can you speak louder and slower?
Ranjan Sharma: Can you hear me?
Somruetai Tantakitti: Yes, we can hear you. Can you speak louder?
Ranjan Sharma: Sure. My first question is on debt. Can you help remind us how much of your debt is coming due next year and the following year? How should we think about whether the, as the debt gets refinanced, whether the interest rates will move up or down on those debt? The second question is that you typically have very strong seasonality in Q4 when it comes to handset sales, but you already have a pretty sharp increase in handset sales in Q3. Could we see continued growth in Q4 when it comes to handset sales? Thank you.
Somruetai Tantakitti: Next year, if you read this close in the MD&A, we have THB 11 billion in debenture due, and then THB 25.95 billion in terms of loan to be refinanced next year.
Tee Seeumpornroj: Yeah, I still see a strong momentum for Q4, both in term of the product, new launching of the iPhone Duo, which is still ongoing, and very strong demand from the, even from the iPhone 18 also. That is the product side. Also, we still keep opening renovation, renovating the new store, so that might bring a lot of good atmosphere, so bring a lot of customer come to the store also. Yeah.
Ranjan Sharma: Thank you so much. That's very helpful. If I have a quick follow-up, the debt that has come due recently, how has the interest rate of the debt moved versus the debt that's matured? So are you refinancing at lower or higher rates?
Tee Seeumpornroj: No, I think a lot of time we look at both. We utilize both short-term and long-term. If you are thinking about whether we are going to refinancing at a higher rate, I do not. There is a few ways you can manage that. A lot of time, we use the short-term ones really lower the rate down, right?
Tee Seeumpornroj: Part of those, I think 20-plus billion and the other 11 to 15 billion debenture, there are ways that we try to manage so that it does not have any impact at all, even on the rising rate for next year. We may try to fix some of the very short to a bit longer period. A lot of time, we still use very short-term, and we keep rolling it because it saves us a lot of cost. Next year, then we will think 1, 3, 5, 7, 10.
Tee Seeumpornroj: There are ways to manage so that we secure funding, plus we do not need to pay much more on the financing cost.
Ranjan Sharma: Got it. Thank you.
Somruetai Tantakitti: Next, we have Khun Kittithep.
Thitithep Nophaket: Hi. Thank you. I have three questions. The first one is regarding loss contribution from KBank. Can you provide us some guidance on the amount of the loss contribution? If I take a look at the difference between other income from Q2 and Q3, it is roughly about THB 170 million. Should I assume that is mainly coming from KBank? Going forward, do you think the loss amount would accelerate because they accelerate the lending, or it should stay at this level? That is the first question. Second question is regarding Starlink, because they have started both the B2B and the broadband services in many country in ASEAN. If we look forward into the next 5 to 10 years, in your view, do you think this LEO satellite would complement or it would become a threat to the mobile phone service?
Thitithep Nophaket: The third one, we all know that because of the foreign ownership limit of 49%, Starlink is not in Thailand. But then if you look around, my understanding is that Taiwan and Vietnam, due to the pressure of Trump administration, they already abandoned that 49% foreign ownership limit. Do you think that Thailand would be in the same position? Meaning, being forced by the US to drop that 49% cap and Starlink eventually enter Thailand? That is all the three questions I have. Thank you.
Tee Seeumpornroj: I think, first of all, let me say that the initial performances shows that we have a solid, not solid, a proven performance on three things. One is a platform that we can raise deposit, right? I think people trust in the bank and the brand. Second, and at a good rate. Second, we can do lending business using alternative data and the credit scoring model that we have. The question about how much losses that we expect, I think we will First, it is still going according to plan, but to give you more information, I think we still need a bit of time because we are looking at the business plan for next year. The key driver will be how fast we grow the loan part.
Tee Seeumpornroj: Because if you are quite familiar with the banking industry, the initial stage when you grow the loan part, the provision expense will be one of the major assumption that we put in. We probably need some runway to really be able to determine a proper provision rate. Otherwise, we need to use some assumption from the market. I think we are going through that process right now. Rather than giving you some numbers that in the end, we may change because of the trajectory of the loan growth and all that, or even the proven data of the loan performance. I would rather wait a bit, but in the end, I will say it is going according to the initial plan that we estimated. It is actually proven that it can be run as a banking entity going forward.
Tee Seeumpornroj: In terms of the amount, please wait a bit. But as we mentioned before, it is three parties, and given the current state, it does not really contribute significant negative result to our P&L just yet.
Pratthana Leelapanang: For the second question regarding direct-to-device, whether direct-to-device from the satellite direct-to-device, whether it is going to be a cannibalization or complement to mobile, I truly believe it will be complement to terrestrial connectivities. As the industry develops, we all know and see very clear that the demands in consume higher and higher speed for both downlink and later would be also uplink. It continues to grow as AI grows. We start to see patterns whereby you upload more data than before, according to the new benefits of AI. With that, the terrestrial network will continue on to develop. At this point, it is 5G-Advanced, and futures to come after 2030 will be newer standards, of which is also work in collaboration a bit with the satellite as well. I truly believe it would be complement.
Pratthana Leelapanang: Even though in Thailand, we hardly see location whereby cannot be reached by mobile network nor broadband fixed line to home. We pretty much, in Thailand, we cover almost everywhere, more than 98.4% covered by mobile, and fiber to the home surpasses 20 million of household in terms of home passes. But I still think in the middle of the sea, in the jungle, and in where the signal may not be able to reach there yet, it would be a complement. The third question is regarding the regulatory, whether holding more than 49% is doable or whether the government would change. I cannot comment much on that, but I truly believe as the critical infrastructure, and which is related to the national security, I believe the country will try to hold onto it, but that remains to be seen.
Pratthana Leelapanang: In any way, I think at this point, we look at this as a complementary, and we actually continue on explore along how we make a full use of it when the times come.
Thitithep Nophaket: ครับ ผมขอบคุณมากครับ Thank you very much.
Somruetai Tantakitti: We have Khun Pisut for second round ค่ะ.
Pisut Ngamvijitvong: Yeah, thanks for another opportunities. Two follow-up questions. First on 3.5 GHz spectrum. Let's assume if the NBTC cannot complete the refarming of the extended C-band to make the 3.5 GHz spectrum available next year, would AIS need to increase the network CapEx intensity to maintain the network competitiveness, particularly against the competitor with greater spectrum holdings? I think that's the first question. The second one, let me try again on the handset business. If looking at only the smartphone sales, carving out the other accessories, the insurance, do you think you are gaining the unit market share from the market in this quarter? If yes, how could you make it? Was there any room to expand your market share any further? Thank you ครับ.
Pratthana Leelapanang: For the first one regarding 3.5 GHz spectrum, as the capacity demand grow, it would require investment to support the growth. For this year alone, the traffic have gone about 14% to 16% in term of consumption for overall network. That would require the CapEx to fund that, to support the top quality network to serve customer. Moving forward for the next few year, there, of course, always been an options of additional spectrum, of which is more than 3.5.
Pratthana Leelapanang: There are some other spectrum portfolio if NBTC were to put to auction. If it available at the right price, comparing to putting in CapEx in order to support the growth, so do we make a choice which one to go for, and we need to look at conditions for each of these, in particular individually and combining with the whole spectrum portfolio. Talking in specific of 3.5, it isn't refarming.
Pratthana Leelapanang: Basically, the satellite TV use certain bands of 3.5. To be exact, it's somewhere around 3.7 to 4.2, if I'm not mistaken. The lower 3.5 is for telecommunications. It is available there, but it's whether the NBTC is ready to bring it for the auction. If it were, then the availability of 3.5 would be somewhere in next 2 and a half year, 3 years, not immediately next year.
Pratthana Leelapanang: So I think that's probably the landscape that you may have already known. But again, coming back to the capacity requirement, it's not specific for competitor whether they have more spectrum. They already have more in the past until now. Whether we can provide the right capacity to support the growth, that is our objective.
Pratthana Leelapanang: We want to make sure always that when the traffic grew or grow, we will have capacity for customer to consume with great experience as possible with the scale and right cost structure that we have. I think that is probably what I like to put it.
Prapat Siangjan: Okay. Talking to the unit growth of the device, it is vary from brand to brand. I just give you some example. Apple grew about 7% Q-on-Q. Samsung is very good performing. It grew about 31% in term of the unit. The problem is about the C brand anyway, it is minus about 20%. But anyway, the good news for the C brand is we have a new model launching of the OPPO and Vivo last week, and we engage with the Tecno, which is a budgetary brand that going to start selling in the AIS system starting from next week onwards. So I think that we have a 260 in term of the unit and the revenue in Q4.
Prapat Siangjan: Again, I still believe in the retail team that the momentum of the strong demand of the iPhone Duo, strong demand of the Samsung is still very strong in our system. So we are going to continue the growth in Q4.
Pratthana Leelapanang: I also like to add here at what Khun Pisut asked, whether we believe that we gained the unit market share or not. I believe the answer is yes. As the team expand, modernize and increase the distribution toward the consumer and distribution network, that is where we gain the share of the units. Not only at our modernized storefronts, but also nationwide as well on partnership. So that is where it helps expand together with the whole portfolio of accessories. Even though it may look as the accessory, but it is actually important to provide customer the experience whereby they got the phone, they got insurance as well, and the related product and services to answer their need at one rather than to go to many store.
Pisut Ngamvijitvong: ขอบคุณมากครับ
Somruetai Tantakitti: We have Wasu for the second round.
Wasu Mattanapotchanart: Thank you. I have three questions. The first question is for Khun Paphat. I want to make sure that I heard you correctly that you mentioned the Samsung unit growth was 31% Q on Q. Did I hear that right?
Prapat Siangjan: Yes, correct. It is led by the one of the budgetary model we call A07. So that is the cheapest one that we can secure a lot of volumes in the early of the Q3. Yes. Yeah.
Wasu Mattanapotchanart: Okay. Thank you. My second question is for Khun Lertchai. I am seeing that in the Q3, the prepaid subscribers dropped by around 100,000 subs Q on Q. Could you please explain the reasons for the net losses of prepaid subscribers? I am just wondering also why did not AIS benefit from the recovery in the tourist arrivals in Thailand? In the Q3, the tourist arrivals rose 3% Q on Q. That is my second question. The third question is also for Khun Lertchai. You mentioned that the mobile revenue dropped Q on Q partly due to the lower roaming revenue from outbound tourists. Is it due to the rising adoption of the eSIMs in the outbound tourist market? That is my third question. Thank you.
Lertchai Kodsup: Probably comment with the first question that you mentioned about the prepaid sub. Actually, when we mentioned about the subscription, it is quite difficult to declare since each operator, they declare the subscription count as a different definition. We also do not know deep in detail, but in our AIS point of view, we try to acquire the quality sub that is more profitable. We do not count that much on the number of subs in the core question. The second question that you are talking about the tourist Q1, Q2. By fact, the tourist Q1, Q2, we also try to follow up the regulation that we try to get the strong PI. Whenever the tourists come, we have to ensure that our PI that we follow the regulation, and we do not allow the tourists come without the PI at all. This is the one part of them.
Lertchai Kodsup: The third part, that is the outbound that you have mentioned. We maybe have some impact from the eSIM anyway, by the way, that we also try to fight back by roll out the SIM2Fly, that our eSIM try to fight back on that area. But it does not mean that we play on the pricing only. We also try to balance on the quality of roaming as well. For the three questions.
Wasu Mattanapotchanart: Thank you.
Somruetai Tantakitti: Next, we have Khun Kittisorn from InnovestX.
Kittisorn Pruitipat: Okay. Thank you for the opportunity. I have just one question.
Somruetai Tantakitti: พี่ ใหม่ พูดดังนิดนึงค่ะ
Kittisorn Pruitipat: Can you hear me?
Somruetai Tantakitti: Very soft.
Kittisorn Pruitipat: Just a moment. Can you hear me now?
Somruetai Tantakitti: Very far.
Kittisorn Pruitipat: Can you hear me?
Somruetai Tantakitti: A bit better.
Kittisorn Pruitipat: Okay. I would like to ask about the IT modernization cost. I am sure that you can share how much did you spend in Q3, and how much should we expect in Q4? It should be higher than Q3, or it should be in a similar level? It would be great if you can share the trend in 2027. That is my question.
Tee Seeumpornroj: I think that, okay, when you talk about IT modernization cost, it is really hard to pinpoint to just one number because now, as you know, it is being recorded in two or three places. Let me tell you the story. The modernization, I think for us, we look at two to three things. One, we look at a lot of the on-prem and local software, so we need to upgrade, modernize that. Partly, it could be on CapEx, and partly, it could be on OpEx for the cloud service, because a lot of new software platform is on a subscription basis. That is going to happen over the next few years anyway. Plus, when we try to invest in AI or allow AI capabilities, all these software and platform need to be modernized as well.
Tee Seeumpornroj: The third part was we are also integrating and migrating the 3BB system to AIS system. So, I think we are doing that progressively every quarter. So probably the Q4 of our IT spending that we are going to record in the book is going to be higher than Q3. How much more, it really depends on the progress and also the point we start the new depreciation. So that is why it is a little bit tough to give you really the exact number. For next year, I think the trend will still continue. I have to say that we are trading off part of the spending on IT that we spend a bit more so that we have a better and more agile and more AI-ready platform to hopefully increase the revenue in the future.
Tee Seeumpornroj: So that is something we are trading off in the short term versus longer term that it can make us more ready to capture new revenue. As for the guidance, I think let us wait until we finish all the budget for next year, then we probably can give you a better guidance.
Kittisorn Pruitipat: Okay. Thank you.
Somruetai Tantakitti: Thank you. We have Piyush from HSBC, please.
Piyush Choudhary: Yeah. Hi. Good evening. Thanks a lot for the opportunity. I have one question regarding mobile postpaid. If you look at postpaid ARPU, that has been kind of trending down. More importantly, if we step back and look at pre-COVID, postpaid ARPU used to be THB 530 plus. We have seen phenomenal data usage growth. We have seen more 5G adoption, but ARPUs have kind of trend down. Could you share what are the bottlenecks to grow postpaid ARPU, and what is the outlook, more medium-term, like two to three years perspective, and what initiatives could help to grow postpaid ARPU?
Lertchai Kodsup: Actually, the postpaid ARPU in term of subscription, we grow more on this one. But along the way, in term of ARPU, we drop almost THB 10 since most of them, they are coming from the EPL impact since before that the ARPU from EPL in postpaid is quite a lot incremental on this one. In the long term, we will be able to monetize more the either postpaid and prepaid by use the lifestyle, let them leverage more connectivity to the lifestyle, either the content, sport or whatever, that will be able to grow more on the data usage only ครับ.
Piyush Choudhary: Is there any kind of challenge to upgrade the existing customers to new plans? Do you need kind of consent from them?
Lertchai Kodsup: Definitely, we try to follow up the regulation 100%. They have some challenge, but it does not mean that have no more room the way out. We try to find other way out. Even right now, we try to follow up the regulation, but some of them still grow more since what we are offer them to change the package, we offer them the benefit, not just the pricing incremental only.
Piyush Choudhary: When you say 5G subscriber upgrades lead to 10% to 15% ARPU increase, is it happening in postpaid also or it is only prepaid kind of specific?
Lertchai Kodsup: Most is prepaid. Since our postpaid new acquisition, they are almost 100% is 5G already.
Piyush Choudhary: Okay. Thank you.
Somruetai Tantakitti: We have คุณธิติเทป from KKPS ค่ะ
Thitithep Nophaket: Hi. Thank you again. I have follow-up questions on the eSIM. When we lose some market share to eSIM from the outbound tourists, should we also gain revenue from selling eSIM to the inbound tourists, either selling them directly or selling them to the eSIM operator? Do we have that service? Over the long term, since we lose some revenue and potentially gain some revenue, do you think that this eSIM would be a net positive or net negative to the roaming revenue? Thank you.
Lertchai Kodsup: Actually, right now, like I mentioned earlier, when we try to depend on this segment, it does not mean that we depend on the pricing basis. No matter inbound and outbound, we try to let them see the benefit. Actually, when the inbound customer comes and uses our roaming, we try to get them the privilege some more on their lifestyle. Even the outbound, we also have the Wonder Choice, try to work together with affiliate group and try to provide more roaming outbound. Whenever they use the data, they have a chance to use the privilege outside the country as well. I think this is the differentiate from the eSIM that they use the pay plan only.
Lertchai Kodsup: As I mentioned, our SIM2Fly, we also try to use that flexibility for the consumer to choose their own number of day, number of data they use on their own plan. That is more flexible than the physical that we have been launched before ครับ.
Thitithep Nophaket: Thank you.
Somruetai Tantakitti: So I think there are no further questions. So before we end, we have a marketing session ค่ะ
Prapat Siangjan: Okay. For the iPhone Duo, iPhone 18, and also Samsung is continue to attract a very strong demand. In fact, some model are selling faster than what we can restock. So anyone of you want to buy for yourself or your friend, your family, just contact me directly. I am happy to help with the best deal and service. Within 3 hours, if you are staying in Bangkok, so I can deliver from the warehouse direct to your home when you order before 5:00PM. So just contact me directly or either one of the IR team, คุณส้ม or คุณอ๊อฟ นะครับ Thank you ครับ
Somruetai Tantakitti: Thank you very much ค่ะ And we hope to see you at AIS shop around Thailand นะคะ And this is the ending of the session. Thank you very much for joining and see you again next quarter ค่ะ
Lertchai Kodsup: Thank you ครับ สวัสดีครับ
Tee Seeumpornroj: ขอบคุณครับ
Somruetai Tantakitti: ขอบคุณครับ
Lertchai Kodsup: ครับ
