Compared with the first quarter of 2016, consolidated net profit decreased by Bt109 million, or 15.6 per cent, from Bt700 million, mainly because of a drop in revenue from conventional satellite services.

Chief executive officer Paiboon Panuwattanawong said the decrease in operating results over the past quarter, particularly from broadcast services, followed Thailand’s slowing economic growth.

However, Thaicom has planned for such circumstances by turning to overseas markets and customers in the Asean Economic Community and South Asia regions, which are both key markets for Thaicom.

Meanwhile Thaicom says it is developing new and innovative value-added services to expand business opportunities around the ability of its satellites to cover users anywhere.

Thaicom says it is continuing to strive for complete and sufficient network coverage while seeking new customers, expanding into international markets, and developing products and service innovations to meet consumer and business-sector needs.

The Thaicom 8 satellite was recently launched into orbit and is ready to provide added capacity to support the transition to high-definition and ultra-high-definition broadcasting as they become increasingly popular.

Thaicom says it is also leveraging satellite capabilities to drive mobility. Satellite signals now provide connectivity aboard the Thai battleship HTMS Chakri Naruebet, while third- and fourth-generation mobile backhaul over satellite provides mobile users with coverage anywhere and at any time under both normal and crisis conditions.

Thaicom’s Internet and media-services subsidiary, CS LoxInfo (CSL), saw declining revenue from its YellowPages media and advertising, voice info, and mobile-content services this past quarter, while the Internet Data Center (IDC) and ADSL for Condominium services continued to grow. The ADSL for Condominium service had 8,372 subscribers at the end of the second quarter, up 333.8 per cent from the same period of last year.

In Laos, Lao Telecommunications Co (LTC) saw continued growth in revenue, particularly from mobile data and Internet SIM services as well as equipment sales.