Chunghwa Telecom Makes Lucrative Earnings in February

Taipei, March 11, 2011 (CENS)--Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., currently Taiwan's No.1 telecom carrier, earned NT$0.53 per share in after-tax net income in February, topping its industry peers in Taiwan and representing a staggering 23.3% increase over the same month of last year.

Despite Chinese New Year holidays in February, the earnings posted an impressive 10.4% growth from NT$0.48 per share the company scored a month earlier.

Last month, Taiwan Mobile Corp. netted NT$0.32 per share while Far EasTone Telecom Co., Ltd. made NT$0.19 per share.

Thanks to reclaiming the privilege in setting rates for calls made from mobile phones to fixed-line phones, the company scored revenue of NT$16.04 billion (US$534.6 million at US$1:NT$30) in February, up 4.8% from a month earlier. In the meantime, the company earned NT$4.13 billion (US$137.6 million), down 1.6% from a year earlier. But a recent corporate capital reduction helps float the company's EPS to NT$0.53, surging 23.3% from the same month of last year.

Chunghwa Telecom executives pointed out that the return of the rate-setting right helped increase the company's revenue from fixed-line calls by 17.4% in February from to the same month of last year. In addition, revenue increase in value-added mobile service, Internet access service, and value-added data service also contributed to the company's revenue growth last month.

Throughout the first two months this year, the company had total revenue of NT$32.2 billion (US$1.07 billion), attaining 17.0% of its annual target for the year. In the meantime, its total operating net income was NT$9.34 billion (US$311 million), attaining 18.2% of its 2011 goal. Its after-tax net income for the Jan.-Feb. period was NT$9.53 billion (US$317.6 million), or NT$1.01 per share, constituting 17.5% of its 2011 goal.

Taiwan Mobile had consolidated revenue of NT$5.82 billion (US$194 million), EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of NT$1.94 billion (US$64.6 million), operating net income of NT$1.16 billion (US$38.6 million), and after-tax net income of NT$960 million (US$32 million), or NT$0.32 per share.

Far EasTone raked in consolidated revenue of NT$5.48 billion (US$179 million), EBITDA of NT$1.71 billion (US$57.3 million), and after-tax net income of NT$608 million (US$20.2 million), or NT$0.19 per share.