Thailand-based dtac blamed continued profit and revenue declines in Q3 on a slow recovery from the impact of Covid-19 (coronavirus), an absence of tourists and aggressive competition, suffering significant drops in subscribers and ARPU.

Net profit declined 18.3 per cent year-on-year to THB1.44 billion ($46.1 million), with total revenue falling 6.1 per cent to THB19.05 billion.

Service revenue decreased 8.2 per cent to THB14.76 billion, international roaming dropped 71.3 per cent to THB46 million and handset sales were down 28.1 per cent to THB1.25 billion.

CFO Dilip Pal said despite uncertainty and evolving market conditions affecting top-line growth, “we are certain about our disciplined financial approach. With yet another quarter of zero tourists, we focused on providing connectivity for the mass Thai market”.

Sharad Mehrotra, CEO, said: “We are pleased to see the continuation of strong digital adoption post-lockdown. With strong momentum on digital transformation, we also continue to improve our operational efficiency to be well-positioned going into the pandemic-driven prolonged uncertainty.”

Prepaid subscribers fell 9.9 per cent to 12.6 million and post-paid by 5.3 per cent to 6.04 million. Blended ARPU declined 2.1 per cent to THB262.

Average data usage per subscriber surged 64 per cent to 19.2GB.

The company lowered its full year service revenue guidance from a low-single digit decline to a mid-single digit fall. In August it cut its capex forecast from THB17.8 billion to a range of THB8 billion to THB10 billion, with just THB4.4 billion spent by end-September.