Thailand-based AIS attributed declines in mobile revenue and ARPU during Q1 to the continued impact of the Covid-19 (coronavirus) outbreak on consumer spending and aggressive competition which forced operators to maintain low-priced unlimited plans.

Mobile revenue slipped 1.7 per cent year-on-year to THB28.8 billion ($830.7 million) with SIM and devices down 4.3 per cent to THB9.7 billion.

Prepaid ARPU fell 3.6 per cent to THB129 and post-paid 4.4 per cent to THB460.

On the positive side, AIS added more than 2 million 5G subscribers to end March with 2.8 million, accounting for 6.3 per cent of its total user base.

The operator has deployed around 20,000 5G base stations nationwide, taking coverage to 78 per cent of the population.

Its total mobile user base grew 4.3 per cent to 44.6 million, driven mainly by the addition of 1.1 million post-paid users taking this sum to 11.8 million.

Net profit fell 5 per cent to THB6.6 billion due to higher amortisation costs related to spectrum purchases. Total revenue dropped 1.3 per cent to THB45.9 billion.

Its guidance for 2022 remained unchanged, predicting mid-single digit growth of core service revenue.