Far EasTone (FET), Taiwan’s third largest mobile operator by subscribers, has released its financial results for the three- and twelve-month periods ending 2012, posting an 8% year-on-year increase in service revenues for the last quarter of the year, though this was down by just under a percentage point when compared to the previous quarter. For the operator’s final quarter of the 2012 fiscal year it reported service turnover of TWD17.534 billion (USD599 million), up from TWD16.841 billion in 4Q11, but down from TWD17.676 billion in the quarter ended 30 September 2012. Consolidated service revenue for the full year period meanwhile stood at TWD69.323 billion, up 7.9% year-on-year, while consolidated EBITDA in FY12 totalled TWD24.360 billion, representing an increase of 8.4% compared to the previous fiscal year. FET registered a net income of TWD10.600 billion in 2012, a significant improvement on the TWD8.881 billion it recorded in 2011.
Looking ahead, FET has issued its guidance for the coming financial year, saying that it expects to generate service revenues of TWD71.983 billion in 2013, while EBITDA and net income are forecast at TWD25.599 billion and TWD11.408 billion respectively.
Wireless subscriber numbers continued to climb, with FET noting that it had registered 32 consecutive months of customer growth. At end-December 2012 its total wireless accesses numbered 6.945 million, of which 78% were post-paid.