Thailand-based dtac booked its first gain in revenue for a year, with a jump in handsets sales and income from network rentals offsetting continued weakness in service turnover in the first quarter of 2021.

In a statement, the operator said that together with the favourable impact from government stimulus programmes, its recovery plan enabled revenue to rise, prompting it to revise its previous service revenue guidance for 2021 from a low single-digit decline to flat to low single-digit fall. It maintained its capex target of THB13 billion ($41.41 million) to THB15 billion, up from THB9.73 billion in 2020.

Net profit in the quarter slid 45.2 per cent from a year earlier to THB822 million due mainly to a higher provision for bad debt. Total revenue improved 2.2 per cent to THB20.5 billion, with service revenue down 8 per cent THB14.5 billion and handset sales climbing 44.3 per cent to THB2.45 billion.

International roaming revenue decreased 83.3 per cent to THB32 million.

Mobile subscribers declined 2.8 per cent to 19.6 million, with prepaid down 3.9 per cent and post-paid flat. Despite the overall year-on-year decrease, dtac said prepaid subs were up 1.5 per cent from Q4 2020, reflecting a continued recovery following its focus on the mass segment.

Prepaid and post-paid ARPU fell 2.9 per cent and 5.1 per cent respectively to THB134 and THB540.