Thailand’s second largest mobile operator dtac is forecasting a second consecutive year of falling revenue due to the country’s sluggish economy and increased competition from AIS and True Move.

The company said it expects this year’s decline in service revenue — excluding interconnection charges – to be slightly more than last year’s level.

Dtac’s service revenue fell 5.3 per cent in Q2 to THB18 billion ($51.5 million), with total revenue up 0.2 per cent to THB21.9 billion compared to a year ago. Last year service revenue decreased 2.6 per cent to THB68.3 billion, while overall revenue dropped 4.4 per cent to THB90.5 billion.

Last month the operator reported a 53 per cent drop in its Q2 net profit to THB1.37 billion due to lower service revenue, negative handset margins and higher operating expenses.

Its EBITDA margin in Q2 plummeted almost 6 points to 30.5 per cent from the previous year.

Despite connections dropping almost 1.1 million over the past 12 months to 26.9 million, its market share has held steady at 29 per cent, according to GSMA Intelligence.

Chavit Sangudomlert, head of investor relations, acknowledged that it has lagged the overall industry’s low single-digit growth over the last couple of years. But he told the Bangkok Post that it plans to stabilise revenue and increase new subscriber growth by the end of the year.

Dtac’s mobile data revenue topped voice revenue for the first time in Q2, with data revenue growing 11 per cent, while voice revenue fell 21 per cent during the quarter.

It has lowered its EBITDA margin guidance to 31-33 per cent.