Non-telecoms revenue offset sharp declines in mobile and handset sales at Taiwan Mobile in Q2, as the industry faced headwinds including Covid-19 (coronavirus), a lack of new premium smartphones and consumers waiting for more 5G models.

Taiwan Mobile president Lin Zhichen said its e-commerce platform momo became its new growth engine, mitigating a slide in telecoms revenue. Despite a traditionally slower second quarter, the total number of transactions on the platform jumped nearly 40 per cent year-on-year, he noted.

He expects 5G service adoption to accelerate as more compatible phones are released, boosting sales of high-end handsets.

Net profit fell 5 per cent to TWD3.05 billion ($103.9 million), with a significant drop in handset bundle sales as customers moved to SIM-only plans cited.

Revenue increased 6 per cent to TWD31.34 billion, as declines of 9 per cent in mobile service sales to TWD11.7 billion and 24 per cent from devices to TWD3.17 billion were offset by a 41 per cent rise in e-commerce to TWD14.46 billion.

Lin noted mobile service revenue was impacted by a decline in international roaming revenue caused by Covid-19 travel restrictions

Its mobile subscriber based dipped 1 per cent to 7.17 million despite a 2 per cent rise in post-paid to 5.74 million. Blended ARPU of TWD545 was down 8 per cent.

On the enterprise side, Lin said demand for IoT connectivity remained solid, posting 40 per cent growth in connections, with IoT, cloud and ICT revenue increasing 35 per cent.

Lin noted the big three operators in Taiwan have “similar plans” for 5G network deployments over the remainder of 2020, without providing specifics on the company’s progress.

He previously stated it aims to convert more than half of its subscribers to 5G within three years.