Nonthaburi, Thailand, 6 February 2020 – Thaicom Public Company Limited, satellite operator, announced its yearly financial results ended 31 December 2019.

The Board of Directors meeting no. 3/2020 on 5 February 2020 approved the proposal to the shareholders meeting of a dividend of Baht 219 million for 2019, or equivalent to Baht 0.20 per share.

Thaicom reported revenue from sales and services for 2019 of THB 4,663 million, down by 22.4% from 2018 mainly as a result of the decrease of revenue from satellite and related services due to customer churn. Most of the churn occurred during the first half of 2019, followed by a stabilization of satellite utilization during the second half compensated by new customers.

The Company’s net loss for 2019, excluding extra items recognized during the year, i.e., the loss from satellite impairment, the sale of investment and foreign exchange, was THB 432 million, while the total net loss reported for 2019 was THB 2,250 million.

The extra items include the impairment of satellites of total THB 1,623 million as the result of (1) the malfunction of the Thaicom 5 satellite which required the Company to migrate its customers to other satellites and (2) the slowdown of the satellite industry due to change in customer behavior and intense competition causing the yield drop further than expected. The impairment, however, is considered a non-cash item and does not affect the cash management of the Company. Thaicom had remaining cash of THB 5,703 million as at the end of 2019.

The overall utilization rate as at the end of 2019 of the Company’s conventional satellites, including Thaicom 5, Thaicom 6, Thaicom 7 and Thaicom 8, was 55% and decreased from 59% year-over-year, mainly due to customer churn during Q1/2019. Satellite utilization rate was relatively stable from Q2/2019 onward. For broadband satellite, the Thaicom 4 (IPSTAR) utilization rate was 23%, down from 30% year-over-year mainly due to project ramp down and customer churn.

Lao Telecommunications Co., Ltd. (LTC), Thaicom’s telecommunication and mobile service provider subsidiary in Lao PDR, reported total mobile subscribers (excluding fixed wireless) of 1.42 million. The country’s leading mobile network operator reported a market share of 55.3%.