Advanced Info Svc Plc Adr

Hello, investors and those who are interested in listening to information about Advanced Info Service. Today, we have AIS Manager, Mr. Somnuthai Tantakiti, Head of Investor Relations and Combined Units, to answer the last question of Opportunity Day today. As for me, I am a relationship investor. My job is to tell you about the overall picture of the business and the progress in the first trimester. The first part will be an update on the business picture. In the first trimester, the demand for digital services continues to grow, supporting the growth of both communication services and related digital services. Although at the end of the trimester, the trust of consumers will begin to weaken due to the pressure the cost of labor, and the rising cost of living, which the company will continue to follow the current situation closely. But the economic picture in the early trimester, we will see a better recovery after a more clear election. Each business of AIS can still grow well, whether it is a mobile business or a mobile business that grows as the use of internet information increases, along with the increase in HG sales. Fixed broadband business, or high-speed internet, is still growing from the increase of service providers and the private sector, which is the result of continuous expansion, along with the development of added value with quality packages. While the customer organization's investment decision may be delayed due to economic fluctuations, however, the growth is still supported by the need for continuous sales services or Enterprise Data Service, or EDS, as well as Cloud and Data Center are still in demand. There are benefits from the acceleration of the organization's digital work, as well as the increase in 5G usage in the industry. The development of digital infrastructure is continuous, which helps to reflect the role of ARS as a partner that the organization is committed to driving the digital age. As for sales, the product itself has grown from the price range to meet the customer's needs to improve both in terms of product, service, and experience in the shop, as well as the demand of customers who have grown higher. In the end, AIS can deliver sustainable profits from high-quality income growth and high-quality payment control. The first diamond is still a diamond that can grow better than expected from the point of view of growing income that can be done well by being careful of the uncertainties of the economy and capital in the future. The income from providing main services in this diamond grew 7% compared to the previous year. The EBITDA profit grew 9.6% compared to the previous year and the final profit grew 28% compared to the previous year. While it is still able to maintain the rate of income in a satisfactory level, whether it is EBITDA Margin Profit, which has increased continuously to 55.3%, which is the result of focusing on profits and growth with quality. By the growth of the previous profit, the effect of ROIC or the rate of return on investment has increased to 19%, reflecting the value of investment. While the rate of Net Debt to EBITDA or the rate The net profit of EBITDA has decreased by 1.5 times from 2.2 times last year, which reflects the stable financial situation and is a result of saving borrowed money with a strong cash flow, including the benefits of low interest rates and the company's borrowed investment that has still adjusted continuously. Fortunately, in the past, the company has been operating to raise funds to make a sustainable return for the elderly who have lost all shares by issuing and offering a loan of $30 million. In the next period, we will start to see an increase in funding. While the funding for borrowing is still good with the rate of interest that we borrow is close to the current rate. As for the expectations or guidelines, it is a question that investors follow that with the next trend, will there be any changes? I have to say that our original number that was announced at the end of last year around the full year's results, we have to evaluate the situation, uncertainty in the future. Back to the present, both the consequences of the war that is affecting the purchasing power, the cost of energy that is affecting the consumption of people. The old guidance is still compatible with the current situation. Although the number in the first trimester will see growth more than expected, but with the current trend, the company has to ask for close follow-up, making the executives have a view that the old guidance assessment is still appropriate. By expecting LIDAR from the main service to grow at 3-5 per cent, with support from the expansion of the digital economy. And even though the economic situation may still face uncertainty from the risk of the global economy, including the problem of financial uncertainty and unreliable consumer confidence, AIS will follow the situation closely and adapt appropriately, focusing on the work that has been done in order to create quality growth and deliver good customer experience to customers. For EBITDA profits, we expect to grow by 2-4%. AS is still moving forward in investing. and to raise the level of digital talent and increase the ability to expand the business. As for capital or investment, we will set a target of 30,000 to 35,000 million baht to maintain the sales leadership status in line with the continued need for increased connectivity, creating a basis for growth in the future. The new investment will reflect the new investment, which is in line with the increasing trend of data usage and targeting long-term quality leaders. The increase in investment will be an investment in mobile phone sales to expand the ability and control of the market to receive continuous growth of 5G and high-speed internet usage, which will help support the growth of Apple in the long term. Thus, IAS will continue to follow the trend of close-in demand and reduce the risk of low-income people, as well as manage the investment budget in a flexible and flexible manner. For the performance of the first trimester, the main service revenue increased by 7% compared to the previous year due to the strong performance of high-speed mobile and internet business from continuing to grow. Similarly, the revenue from selling equipment and SIMs continued to grow by 9.6% compared to the previous year, while the revenue from other services decreased. in relation to the income from connecting the 700 MHz frequency with the reduced NT according to the reduced usage. Similarly, the income from connecting the frequency or IC and the income from being a partner with the reduced NT compared to the previous year from the end of the promise of connecting the 2100 MHz frequency with the NT. As for our EBITDA profits, it has grown continuously from the expansion of the business in general as well as the financial control. The revenue is reduced compared to the previous year from the reduced sales and the reduced price loss, and the reduced price loss compared to the previous year from the reduced price loss and the reduced license fee revenue, as well as the benefit of the reduced revenue from the high-speed internet sales or the Synergy we received from 3BB. As the revenue in sales and management increases, For the expansion of the business, there is both the cost of the employees and the cost of the sales improvement that has been reduced since the high season in the fourth trimester that has passed. This makes our profit at the end of this trimester at 13,496 million baht. or increased by 28% compared to the previous year due to the strong performance of the business, the reduction of the loss rate, and the reduction of the income. This income is reduced by refinancing with a reduced interest rate, along with the recovery of the debt, resulting in a reduction of the interest rate by about 2.6%. In terms of profit, you may see a decrease compared to the previous trimester. This is due to the fact that in the fourth trimester, we have a tax benefit, which is the tax collection deficit. However, if we do not include the tax loss carry forward here, the profit that we will grow when compared to the previous trimester. As for the interest rate, you will see that Our main revenue is 79% of the total revenue, while the remaining 21% comes from sales revenue. For the main revenue from the main service, the main revenue still comes from mobile business or mobile phone at 76%, reduced to 19% high-speed internet business, and 4.1% customer service business and other digital businesses. Next, I would like to talk about the business update. Starting with mobile business, the timeout is 34,500,000 baht, which grew by 7.3% compared to the previous year. Mainly, it comes from the growth of the customer group, the cash flow group, or the PPA group, which can still grow as the usage increases, and the pushback of the 5G package, as well as the promotion of the added value package that increases the value. The current revenue from the cashier group has increased by 46%. The revenue from the customer side has also continued to grow. Currently, AIS has a total of 46.9 million mobile phone users. from the previous trimester, 170,000 units. As a monthly service provider, mainly from this increasing trimester, it is a result of the strong need for continuity and the maintenance of the service provider's foundation is still positive. While the service provider's payment system has decreased a little, it is reflected in the focus on the quality of the service provider, which is in line with the self-affirmation mechanism in the new SIM registration that is stronger, in accordance with the government policy. This will be to reduce the risk of unemployment, as well as the pressure from low-income people at the end of March. The second factor is the average income per unit per month, or AAPU, which can still grow. AAPU increased by 4.2% compared to last year, receiving support from the AAPU of the funding system, or the gender side, which has improved in terms of data usage, as we have learned. as well as the sales package, added value, and added content services. As you can see, the small reduction in revenue from the beginning of the quarter will result from the slow economic growth in the end of the quarter. As for the amount of average use of data per month, or VOU, it is still growing. This is due to the growth of 5G customers, as well as the growth of application usage as well as the growth of customer content viewing. Recently, AIS has launched AIS 5G Advanced or 5G Plus. This is the first line in Southeast Asia. It is another important step of the company's network leadership strategy that focuses on sales quality leaders. Normally, 5G is used to increase bandwidth, but with AIS technology, we can combine them together, whether it's 2 or 3 times, depending on the usage. If it's 3 times, we can combine the bandwidth of 700, 2100, and 2600 MHz together, resulting in maximum speed of download, 1.5 times. and increase the upload speed by 2 times. This leads to a better user experience, which will increase the user experience and increase the opportunity to upsell and cross-sell further. Currently, 5G SA or Standalone, which is a full-fledged 5G market on the Daolink side, has been opened to the public in the area of Sathorn and Banglak. We will expand to other important areas in Bangkok and Palimontol this year. For the usage, the customer can see the 5G Plus signal on the upper right corner of the mobile phone screen. This depends on the model of the mobile phone that receives and the model of the mobile phone that shows the result. The customer does not have to apply for additional packages, no need to spend money. It will be a part of the system that we develop the usability of the device to be better. Both the speed, stability, and the usability of the device will be better. Next, high-speed internet service business. In the first trimester, we created an income of 8,511 million baht, grew by 8.7% compared to the previous year. This is the result of the growth of the customer base that has increased by 63,000 units. or about 4.7% from the previous year. This is due to the fact that we have a controlled network fiber and quality service, as well as penetration that the opportunity to expand the customer is still there, in line with the demand for high-speed internet service that is still growing. In addition, in terms of customer quality, we have presented high-quality entertainment content and increased the level of use to premium packages that meet customers' specific requirements. As you can see at the bottom, there will be a new package that we have just released, which is a home network package that includes fiber storage and the network of the home business. If the router or signal storage has a problem, The system will adjust the 4G and 5G signal continuously, so that the usage is not lagging. It is suitable for people who work at home or are in business or selling live goods or business that requires high latency. This is a new package that we offer to customers. The product that meets this old quality service results in our AAPU growing up to 3.9% with a time limit of 538 baht. As for the progress in the overall process between B3 and B4, it will continue to be achieved according to the goal by focusing on increasing the experience of the users and creating additional benefits for the investment. The old process is expected to be completed by the end of this year as planned. Due to the demand for continuous growth, ERS has developed the sales efficiency even better. In addition, the number of 5G users has grown continuously, increasing 46% compared to the previous year. Now, we have 18.5 million 5G users, or 39% of the total customer base. While 5G has more than 95% of the population in the country and more than 20 million kWh of high-speed internet. In our third main business, enterprise business or customer service, the customer service revenue is 1,853 million baht, growing 1.7% from last year. This is the result of the growth of the customer service to connect data for the enterprise or enterprise data service. is still an important factor in the movement of digital use. Even though the income may be lower or weaker than before due to the carelessness in the payment of the customer groups, it is under an uncertain economic situation. Thus, if the economy begins to see a better signal, The needs of the customers are expected to recover. AIS is still focusing on quality growth through cloud services and data centers to create opportunities to grow in the long term. The next business will be the sales of devices and SIMs, which has grown by 9.6% compared to last year, up to 12,282 million baht. This year, although we will not have a tax reduction campaign from the government like last year, but with the desire to get a very good response, whether it's an iPhone 17 series, it's still good. And the opening of Samsung The new S26 series has a good growth. Partly, it is the result of the customer service that we continue to develop. The managers have improved the success of the AIS Pro sales team in the Apple product group that we have done. Now we have expanded the potential of the sales team who are more experienced in Samsung's brand. So it will help increase customer experience. to increase the sales potential of employees. In addition, in the first trimester, we can still increase the profit ratio from 4.3% in the first trimester of last year to 5.9% in this trimester. There will be a higher profit ratio in addition to the actions that we have taken, whether it is the sale of additional equipment, gadgets, and accessories that have increased, the sale of cost sales and insurance products, which this product group will have a higher profit ratio. In addition, the development of the Omni Channel channel also helps to increase sales productivity. In this time, ARS has a sales margin of 725 million baht. Increased from the time before and from the year before as well. According to the growing sales revenue and higher profit. For entertainment business, ARS still continues to increase new opportunities from the AS customer base of more than 52 million. Help increase the value of the customer package to be more valuable. which contributes to the growth of Apoo and creates an ecosystem that meets the needs of various customers. In the past, the income from entertainment services has grown. Recently, AIS is moving forward to increase AIS Pay to be the center of the entertainment of the network by expanding the market for custom series, being a partner with RealShot, making it possible for AIS customers to access custom series, whether it is RealShot's platform or ShotMax's platform, more than 4,000 stories. In the past year, we have seen that customers have used the custom series app to grow, which makes us to better respond to customers. In addition, EIS continues to lead by presenting content that meets both entertainment and sports in Thailand and abroad, including world-class sports competitions and streaming applications all over the world. In terms of investment, to build growth with partners and increase new opportunities, it will consist of three main branches. Starting with the data center branch, we will try to meet the demand and opportunities from hyperscalers and customer groups that need the use of the data center, which can be divided into two subgroups. This will make it more clear about the structure of the holding market. In the upper group, there are GSA, Data Center, GAF, Singtel, and AIS. In GSA01, we have already started service in the previous year. In GSA02, we are already starting to build and expect to be able to provide service in the first half of the year of 2027. The capacity or production capacity for service is 38.1 MW. Another group is called the Gulf-Aid Data Center or GEDC. Now we have Phase 1, i.e. Phase 01. We estimate that it will have a capacity of 100 MW and will be able to provide services in the second half of next year, in 2027. In the second phase, Cloud business, we are running through GAS or GAS. We are a cloud and AI solution provider together with Gulf with a variety of products, which are world-class hyperscalers. This allows us to meet the needs of various customers, whether it is the AIS Cloud itself, which we collaborated with Oracle last year, which has already started providing services. And Google, which is AirGap, will have high security of information, including Microsoft Azure as well. And the last step will be the digital finance business, which AIS has invested in various banks or virtual banks, holding 39% of shares for EIS, KTB or Krungthai, 41% and PTTOR 20%. We set up to meet the needs of customers who may not receive enough financial services or do not reach financial services. Currently, it is in the preparation phase to follow the requirements of AIS. We expect that it will be available this year. As for the progress and stages, it will still be according to the plan that has been laid out. By investing in the financial sector, this plan will help strengthen the AIS platform and understand the income in the future. This will make AIS expect that Virtual Bank will be able to build profits in the fourth year as well. Next is a report that has more updates in this format. ARS focuses on three main principles. The first principle is to drive digital for the economy through the expansion of the Ministry of Commerce. It will be an improvement to create digital innovation and improve business to make digital transformation more convenient and faster. The second program is to create digital access for everyone in society by using digital technology as a tool to reduce latency and enable access to various infrastructure services. And the last program is about Act on Climate or environmental recognition through to be efficient and reliable in electronic waste management. In this timetable, there will be three final updates. The first one will be the opening of the AI Literacy program under the Cyber Warmth Project. It will be open for free through the Thai MOOC platform and Cyber Warmth as well. This platform will be open to everyone, giving free knowledge to the general public. AIS is cooperating with the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Innovation, as well as Chulalongkorn University to open a new main school. There is also the development of AI experts from various departments, and support from the foundation. to be used in daily life and to be used safely and with integrity. We have already received the confirmation from the former Ministry of Health and Welfare, and it is possible to compare with the industry in the future. In addition, these things will help raise the level of AI skills of Thai people in cooperation with building cybersecurity security, which is very important in the current era. For the second project, it will be a collaboration between AIS and the Ministry of Health and Welfare to support the public health system by providing 5G services and equipment for the Department of Mental Health. It is a collaboration with Siriraj Hospital and Somdet Hospital, Phayudphalat as well. To connect the information in a timely manner, so that it can be used and treated as quickly as possible at the point of occurrence to increase the opportunity to get treatment in time to reduce the risk of pollution. The last part is to increase the safety of cyber security. We have collaborated with the Institute of Education and Communication for Children and Young People to create an MOU, One Safer Internet Day, to increase the safety and quality of digital use. Here, we focus on creating cooperation with various parties to raise the level of responsibility for using technology as well as increasing digital risk. All of this will be a foreshadowing of the consequences and the implementation of the first step that AIS will continue to move forward according to the rules to create a sustainable return for those who have lost money continuously. In the next section, I would like to invite everyone to the Q&A section. If there are more questions, investors can send questions to the system of the stock market. Thank you.

We're starting to see the questions coming in. This quarter is a bit too tight. We're quite speedy. The first question is, why did the number of service users drop and why did the number of service users increase? In this case, we can't answer for our competitors. But we can answer in terms of Why is the number of service providers falling in our own part? In AIS, we have enough seasonality in terms of numbers. We have a group of tourists who come in in the form of money that is peak season at quarter 4. And then quarter 1 will be invited out. Therefore, quarter 1, if you look at the numbers of AIS, it will be a number in terms of seasonality in terms of ah, group of tourists that have been reduced. Now, we look at the invitation, the invitation from the tourist group, the group that is a new customer, it has been reduced because we have implemented the personal identification that is stronger in accordance with the rules of the government. And we are still focused on the quality subscriber continuously. In the second part, what is the growth of the monthly customer system? And why did Apple fall to a lower level than Q1 last year? The monthly customer system, if you look at the graph in the past 2-3 years or more, you will see the trend of decreasing of the monthly customer group. It comes from many parts together. In the past, we might have chosen to to hand-set subsidy. If we hand-set subsidy, the amount we subsidize will be deducted from the cost of payment, deducted from the income that we get from our customers for months. So, does AIS do a lot of hand-set subsidy? We do it in a reasonable amount because we want to encourage our customers to buy our equipment and at the same time, we can Or we will be able to give the right to buy the vehicle with the customer who has been with us for a long time or is a high value customer that we give importance. This will have a second impact. And the third one is the post-paid customer. There will be one customer group that is a solution sim. Therefore, the SIEM solution group, whether we sell the SIEM as a bulk to the enterprise customers to put it in various IoT devices or put it in the car, the car will have SIEM. This group will have a lower ABU than post-pregnancy on average. Therefore, the pressure from these three factors will be the factor that causes the ABU of post-pregnancy to occur. there will be a sliding down of the landing. But if we try to filter these factors out and we look at our own prospective consumers, it can still be maintained. And there is still a little growth in this group of customers. The third point is to reduce a lot, which means less competition in the market or from the good management of the company. I would like to say that the competition is very intense, and it has not decreased or increased. Because both companies or 3 companies, we will see NT enter the competition in some segments. There is still intense competition. But the competition, the image of the competition has changed from the competition in terms of reducing the price a lot to a competition to increase the price for customers. What does it mean? What does it mean? What does it mean? What does it mean? What does it mean? What does it mean? we try to maintain the quality and give value to our customers consistently. However, there will be a dilution in the revenue per gigabyte. This is the reason why we still have to invest consistently to ensure that when we serve our customers, it must be more efficient in order to get the return or The bottom line is that we still have a margin that is suitable for building a business. Therefore, the competition is still as intense as before, just not in terms of price. we will try to upgrade our customers. As Mr. Guyrawee explained, we will have value-added services, whether it's retail, entertainment, or other elements, or going to the virtual bank to create an ecosystem and we can provide the best service to our customers. Next, we have The revenue from providing the main services grew about 3-5% this year. Is it still in line with the goal or not? And the profit of 2-4% is that this gang will be a guidance gang that we can give. And we still keep the guidance as before. Why? Because last year when we did the guidance, we identified the economic situation. which may have negative and positive effects. However, after we opened the first quarter, the first and second months had positive effects, which made it better. However, in the third month, due to the conflict or high oil prices that affected consumers or our customers, the situation The negative trend is back in our assumption, which we still expect that we can maintain our guidance both in terms of revenue from the main service and EBITDA profits as before, even though Q1 will be quite over, but the image of the next Q we will see more payments, we will start to see the impact from starting to For the services in the virtual bank, there will be a share of loss in the first year. And there will be an increase in spending. Increase from what? It doesn't mean that we want to use money that is not good for the economy. But I want to give, if you still remember, our strategy this year is that we want to be a digital infrastructure for Thailand. We are in the business that we deliver services on the structure of connectivity or communication. Therefore, the delivery of services to customers is better and better than before. AIS has been operating for 35 years on the old IT system. There will be some obsolete systems. develop ourselves all the time. We have to invest in capabilities, invest in bringing new technology or AI to use in order to develop our IT foundation system and connect to many platforms, such as customer service platforms, customer payment platforms, or customer analysis platforms. Customer needs can be connected and customers will have the same good experience. in every channel, whether it's online or on our website. I would like to emphasize that for every payment, we have to evaluate it appropriately and we have to evaluate it on a reasonable basis. Why? Because if we see that the economy is not good, the impact of Iran has hit us, our income will not come. How do we do this? We have to see if there are any expenses that may not be necessary this year. Can we move on to next year? But if it is an expense that is important to the regulations and the development of our services to meet the customer's needs, it may be something that still has to be invested. But we have considered all of them. Our guidance is still the same. The next question is about the investment budget, including interest. How much has it been used this year and how much will it be used in the rest of the year? We are about 30,000 to 35,000, which is a wide range than other years, because we look at the customer's demand and use. The majority of the investment budget is in mobile phones. As we can see in Q4, the data usage of customers has increased by 15% year-on-year. And the quarter that has passed has increased by 17% year-on-year. We can see very clearly that customer usage has increased by 9%. Therefore, the fact that we do not increase investment budget by Just enough to reduce the customer's experience and we don't want that to happen. Therefore, we will monitor the customer's use closely and can adjust the amount of investment according to the economic situation. Finally, AAS is a company that focuses on profit. Therefore, investment and revenue must be in harmony. How much did you invest? In Q1, we invested around 6.8 billion in cash. We still have to ramp up in the next quarter. How do you assess the situation in the remaining period of the year? What are the risks? And does the electricity cost increase affect the company? If we look at Bantad Network OPEX and NT Partnership. Here you can see that Bantad's spending has decreased a lot. Mainly, year-on-year, mainly is the benefit that we get from moving 2100. It is a bank account that has spending here that it disappeared in line with revenue that has disappeared. But the main cost of electricity in Bangkok is around 50%. And the FT rate in May has improved a little bit. I think the cost of electricity will be affected in the same way. Next, the virtual bank of the AIS group that cooperates with Thailand. And another partner is PTT-OR. How clear is the role of the bank to create the highest productivity in operation? We have communicated this point continuously because it is the partner of AIS. AIS has strength in customer-based. We have alternative data to know the customer's usage. We can analyze the customer's propensity. We can also use it as a choice model to analyze the credit profile to be able to tap a group of customers who may not have and other financial products. Thailand is a bank that has been with us for a long time. They have expertise in various regulations or how a bank works. And Thailand has another strong point, which is the wallet app. They can access and have a strong track record that they can do it and provide financial services to a group of customers. or a small group of customers around the world who may not have a bank account or have a strong income. And PTT-OR is a retail group. And PTT is a pump that has branches all over the country. It may be a use case for spending or spending on our bank products. Another thing I would like to talk about is AIS. We have mobile phone sales. Mobile phone sales will have financing that may be associated with the products of the virtual bank. This is after we started the service. We will probably come in and talk about the strategy of the virtual bank more. The first phase of the virtual bank, we expected that The break event is probably 3-4 years. We may have a negative impact from the share of loss. But here, the share of loss of AIS has been guided in the EBITDA database. Therefore, our EBITDA guidance of 2-4% growth has included the impact of many investment groups. Whether it's a data center or a virtual bank GAIS or other funds that we have invested will be included in the EBITDA guidance. The percentage of new non-mobile business income such as enterprise and digital services has increased by a few percent. Initially, non-mobile, we see growth at double digits. But this year, We can see very clearly that the organization customers are sensitive to the economic situation immediately. We can see that the reduction of both the backlog and the organization customers will be more intensive in doing cost optimization in their own organization. Therefore, the growth of this year has gone down. But we still have confidence that we are at the right point. We are at the point It has a real demand because it has both connectivity demand, this is real, data center demand, and migration to cloud in using various AI use cases in the future, whether it's an organization use case Single digits. But the quantity will make the proportion or revenue mix not change much more than what it is now. The 5G target this year is still growing almost the same. We still focus on converting customers to 5G because now penetration is at 40%. But the penetration of our network is more than 95%. We still think that this will make us able to up the customer sales and increase the value of Papu more. In the prepaid part, it's 5G more. Because we mainly sell 5G packages, we have to stimulate in various channels to allow customers subscribe to 5G more. APU will grow on increased usage. As I said, we have seen data usage grow by double digits, and we are still trying to migrate customers to 5G. These two points will be the main points to make customers grow. AIS has a plan to expand home network customers through the old customer base of 3BB. How is it? Now 3BB and AIS, we use sales . . . . . data center data center uh uh uh uh uh uh We believe that we have the ability to save or refinance money from the market with the right amount of money. Therefore, we should consider it in accordance with the market conditions. The last question is how the company looks at the market price competition in the rest of the year. Right now, we are focusing on quality. in terms of profits. Therefore, everything that AAS offers, we consider the shareholders and all of our shareholder. So, we look at our strategy that focuses on quality, services with innovation, and developing services for customers as the core of our practices. . . . . . . Thank you for your time. If you have any questions, you can contact us via email or via Line Official. Thank you very much.