Sustained and Lasting Growth and Adoption of Communications Technologies to Help Develop the Country and Promote Extensive Access to Technology
The Coronavirus (Covid-19) situation over the past few years escalated and caused widespread global economic impacts, including Thailand. As a result, the government declared the closure of specific areas periodically and closed the country over the past year, leading to major impacts on the customers of companies related to service businesses and tourism. The people living in the country and the business sector, including both the public sector and private sector, needed to adapt consistently with the situation that occurred, including to the New Normal, in order to overcome the situation. By the end of 2022, the Thai government declared the complete re-opening of the country, which significantly contributed to increasing numbers of tourists and money spent by tourists. Thus, the tourism industry and the overall economy became vibrant again. As such, the company adjusted its business strategies, whether in marketing or investment, for consistency with service costs and revenues that might be impacted and to control costs and increase operating effectiveness. These efforts led the company’s revenues to increase from 2,509.18 million baht in 2021 to 3,437.78 million baht in 2022.
Growing Consistently with the Country’s Development
Accordingly, the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) projected Thailand’s growth in gross domestic product (GDP) to about 2.5-3.5%, which is similar to the projection for the global economy of 3.5% growth. As for Thailand’s economic growth in other areas, the numbers are 3.9% for private sector consumption, 3.5% for private sector investments, 3.4% for government investments, 7.3% for export value (USD currency), with inflation at 4.2-5.2%. These are influenced by supporting factors such as 1) continuous easing of Covid-19 control measures in tandem with progress in vaccine distribution; 2) growth in household income and the business sector in line with the production, industrial and export sectors; 3) easing of measures to re-open the country to receive foreign tourists through elimination of the Test & Go measure. However, there are also limitations and risk factors such as 1) high private sector debts that will hinder the country’s recovery in demand and the labor market’s incomplete recovery; 2) new Covid-19 strains potentially causing new outbreaks; 3) prolonged conflict between Russia and Ukraine and sanction measures; and 4) slowing performance of the economy of China.
Determined to Develop the Company for a Bright Future
The company has a clear and determined mission to operate business toward “sustained and lasting growth” for the sustainable benefit of all shareholders, customers, stakeholders and the nation and overall society. Thus, the company continuously and swiftly makes plans and adjusts working strategies consistently with the economic situation by adopting telecommunications technologies to assist and support for every business in the industry to overcome the crisis, and this includes research, development and investments in businesses that will help build the company toward growth in line with the world’s major technological trends, which include the following: 1) Big Data, which is the processing, analysis and display of large quantities of data by using appropriate techniques such as financial information, operating information, service recipient information, personnel information and data stored in database systems, which continue to immensely increase to the extent that ordinary methods cannot be used to effectively manage them and that require the use of Big Data concepts to manage them instead; 2) Social Listening, which is the collection of consumer data on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to enable understanding about who are talking about our products and services offered by our brands and to know where and who are doing the talking through social media platform comments, which make it possible for us to learn about what consumers are discussing in the online world and to analyze them to adjust strategies consistently with consumers’ needs; 3) Drone and Anti-drone, which is the use of unmanned aerial vehicle technologies, of which major advances were made, to use unmanned aerial vehicles in activities that are difficult for humans to perform such as aerial surveys and inspections of hazardous sites, including providing convenience in eliminating certain limitations such as through use of drones to deliver products in order to avoid traffic problems, etc.; and 4) CCTV Analytics, which means the processing of video data and use thereof in monitoring or surveilling situations according to users’ needs in order to reduce human burdens or limitations and to use technologies to provide greater convenience, comfort and precision.
Work Management and Corporate Governance in Line with International Standards
Due to the corporate governance of the board of directors and the company’s team in 2022, the company received an “Excellent” or 5-star rating on corporate governance in the Corporate Governance Report of Thai Listed Companies project in 2022 by the Thai Institute of Directors (IOD) with the support of the Stock Exchange of Thailand. This is the 2nd year in which the company received the 5-star or “Excellent” rating in corporate governance. The company gives importance to and is conscience about sustainable development and growth by adhering to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations in Thailand (UN Thailand). Thus, the company was selected by the Stock Exchange of Thailand to be included in the Thailand Sustainability Investment list (THSI) of 2022 for the 3rd onsecutive year. This award demonstrates that the company gives importance to participating in disclosing information correctly and completely and in having effective communication channels that benefit shareholders and investors and that the company conducts business with responsibility to environmental and social issues and shareholders and stakeholders while concurrently adhering to the principles of corporate governance in order to achieve sustainable development goals, and this also shows that the company is a business that is prepared to create opportunities and grow its business sustainably while being prepared to handle new risks that arise at a time of rapid technological changes.
Furthermore, the company received and honorary certificate praising the business for supporting the hiring of socially-disabled persons in 2022 by the Social Innovation Foundation and members by creating opportunities to over 3,000 disabled people nationwide each year by helping disabled people to receive employment under the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Act to allow them to work to support community service agencies located in their own localities. This contributes to the company’s corporate social responsibility mission to support the hiring of disabled persons to sustainably improve their quality of life.
The company received awards from the The Global Economics Awards 2022 event organized by The Global Economics, a leading financial magazine of the United Kingdom. The company received awards in 2 categories, namely, the Best Emerging CEO in Telecom, which was received by Mr. Nuttanai Anuntarumporn, chief executive officer and an organization leader with distinction in strategic planning and telecommunications business management, and the Most Innovative Fiber Optic Network Service Provider award, which reaffirmed the company’s capabilities and success as a service provider of the fastest and most stable fiber optic networks in the industry and in the capacity to most flexibly modify services to respond to every business need and ensure that every connection is simple and uncomplicated. Furthermore, the company’s development in organization public relations through use of various contents through the Blockdit community platform led the company to receive the BEST CORPORATE CREATOR AWARD 2022.
The company also received the Asia’s Best Employer Brand Award 2022 from the Employer Branding Institute. This award reflects the company’s capabilities through having distinguished and capable executives serving as role models in supporting the building of an organization of learning that is accepted on the international stage, and the company received the “BBB” credit rating with a “Stable” credit inclination. The rating was given by Tris Rating and it shows the company’s strength in being a leading telecommunications service provider and the experience and long-established positive relations with customers of the company’s executives and engineers and consideration to stakeholders and business management in line with corporate governance principles to continuously and securely strengthen business in the long-term.
Moving Ahead to be the Leader in Data Connection and Data Center Services
The company’s commitment to operating business for “sustained and lasting growth” caused the company’s performance in 2022 to lead to the generation of a total revenue of 3,437.78 million baht or an increase of 37.01% when compared to year 2021. This consisted of revenues from 3 service formats, namely and network service revenue by 1,310.73 million baht or a growth of 2.30%, data center service revenue by 87.34 million baht or a decrease by 4.85%, and network installation service revenue by 1,994.52 million baht or an increase by 82.52%.
The company continues to emphasize effective work management in its management of costs and expenses. As a result, the company’s EBITDA was 853.71 million baht, representing an increase from the previous year by 8.84% and an EBITDA rate of 24.83% of total revenues. In addition, the company’s net profit was 278.29 million baht or a net profit margin of 8.10%. This included 251.67 million baht of net profit from the company’s equity, which increased from the previous year by 0.35%. However, the company’s EBITDA and net profit in 2022 decreased when compared to 2021, and in 2022 the company’s backlog revenues amounted to 2,493.23 million baht.
All of the success achieved reflects the company’s total commitment and dedication in continuous business management and expansion regardless of the situation. The company also continues to give primary consideration to the interest of shareholders, allies, trade partners, society, the country and all stakeholders alongside the company’s business returns.
On this occasion, “we” would like to express our sincere gratitude to all shareholders and business partners for having continuously entrusted and supported the company, and we would like to thank all executives and employees of the company for having cooperated in working diligently and industriously to help the company overcome its challenging moments never previously faced by anyone before in a highly satisfactory manner. Furthermore, I am confident that the potential of the company’s personnel and the company’s strategy for driving business growth will enable us to overcome the economic crisis and Covid-19 and achieve “sustained and lasting growth” for the lasting benefit of all shareholders, customers and stakeholders, including the nation and society as a whole.
