The economic recovery and a spike in data sales have helped Hong Kong’s SmarTone boost first half income sevenfold.
The city’s third-largest mobile operator announced HK$294 million ($37.8m) in net earnings Tuesday, with service revenue up 7% and costs down almost 7%.
Excluding an impairment writedown on its Macau operation and an income tax credit, underlying profit was HK$271 million.
Mobile data revenue increased 38% over the same period last year and now accounted for 36% of service revenue, the company said.
Outbound roaming increased, although inbound roaming was flat because of lower prices, while the end of Hong Kong’s fixed-line interconnection fees had cut network costs by 14%, or HK$90 million.
“The improvement in this year’s results was driven by strong performance across all service portfolios, together with improved operational efficiency,” said chairman Raymond Kwok.
He said the “momentum is expected to continue,” with greater adoption of smartphones, broadband, and wireless fixed services.
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