Good evening, everyone. Welcome to our 2024 conference call. First, let me introduce our management. Our CEO, Khun Somchai . Now, Chief Consumer Business, Khun Pratthana broadband CEO, Khun Tee Acting Chief Enterprise Khun Phupha CFO, Khun Montri. We also have Head of Investor Relations and Compliance, Khun Nattiya, ka. Ka. Sawasdee ka. Myself, Somruetai, will be briefing you the results and running this session. The session will begin with a short brief and then going directly into Q&A. At this time, you may also reserve to ask the question through the chat box. Please type your name and corporate name. Now, let me begin with the presentation.
Throughout 2024, we navigated mixed market sentiment, taking a cautious stance amid weak consumer confidence and slow private investment. Thailand achieved a modest economic growth driven by government stimulus and tourism recovery. At AIS, we continued expanding steadily, leveraging digital demand while prioritizing profitability to maximize shareholder returns. The mobile revenue grew 4.8% year-on-year, driven by our superior network and rising data consumption.
The growth mainly came from improvement in the ARPU, especially in the prepaid, while we are continuously enhancing customer value through personalized offerings and content bundling. The broadband business maintained momentum, reaching five million subscribers, driven by quality customer acquisition, network expansion, and value-added service that continue to uplift the ARPU. The enterprise non-mobile grew 22% year-on-year, supported by Triple T Broadband contributions, a strong demand for connectivity and cloud service. Additionally, we significantly improved our sales margin from 1.8% in 2023 to 5.6% in 2024 through focused efforts to optimize the handset subsidies. With the above, we exceeded our guidance upper bound for both core service revenue and EBITDA, driven by strong business performance, operational efficiencies, and integration synergies. We delivered a net profit of THB 35 billion and THB 75 million, growing 21% year-on-year.
Our leverage ratio declined from 2.9x post-acquisition in 2023 to 2.2 times at the end of 2024. This reflects strong financial performance. The board approved dividend per share of THB 10.61 for a full year at payout ratio of 90%. This underscores our commitment to driving shareholder returns through sustained performance improvement. The integration is on track, with synergies exceeding expectations due to our accelerated efforts. In 2025, our focus is mainly on IT integration, a key milestone towards achieving a unified operation by 2026. This year, our guidance excludes the spectrum auction scenario and assumes the NT2100 deal remains in place through year-end. The core service revenue and EBITDA are expected to grow at 3.5%-5%, driven by an improved economic outlook. All businesses will continue focusing on high-quality connectivity, enhanced customer value, and innovative content and products.
The CapEx budget is around THB 26 billion -THB 27 billion. The additional emphasis this year will be on modernization of equipment, integration costs, and underground cabling. The allocations are mobile around 45%, broadband 25%, enterprise 10%, and the remainder for IT and others. And lastly, please allow me to remind you of the next event, which we have already sent the invitation to you. If some of you have not registered and would like to attend, please kindly confirm participation by next Tuesday. We will have an online session arranged for overseas participants, only which we will be sending the link after your confirmation. And this is the end of the short brief. We'll start with a Q&A session now. Please be reminded that you may reserve to ask the question through the chat box with your name and corporate name,ค่ะ. First, we have Pisut from KSEC .
Yes, ma'am, can you hear me?
Cannot hear.
Yeah, can you hear me now?
Can you speak louder, please?
This is better?
Yes.
Hello. Okay. First of all, good evening. Congratulations to your quite strong result. And thanks for the call. I have three questions. This is Pisut from Kasikorn Securities. The first question is about your idea regarding the growth of data consumption for the consumer segment. I understand that you have done a large part, the fixing of data prices over the past three quarters. Have you ever noticed the slowdown in the growth trajectory of data consumption so far? And in what degree, if you can share? And may I get your view about the future growth potential of data consumption, especially when the AI technologies become the major component of mainstream uses for the consumers, probably in the next three to four years? That's my first question.
My second question is about your EBITDA growth guidance, which is 3%-5% this year, same as your core revenue growth guidance of 3%-5% as well. Just wondering, where—you know, why will your EBITDA growth not reflect, the, operating leverage effect, as you are the infrastructure, capital-intensive business? And my last question is about your, cost transformation from the roaming-free with NT, to the cost related to the new license of 2.1 GHz. Just want to make it clear, and it would be great if you can, you know, tell us what kind—what the financial items that will be impacted from this kind of changes. Thank you .
krub. Allow me to address the first one. When you talk about data consumption, for past year, we start to see a taper down of overall consumption, along with our plan. If everyone recall that we do have plan, to constantly eliminate unsustainable offering, that would help contain the bulk volume of the whole network data consumption. That's as a big picture. But moving forward, we do believe that the data consumption for the rational customer will continue to grow. We will start to see the uplink data consumption come when more and more devices have ability to broadcast more data, like uplink of the video and many more. But when the time of AI comes, AI will probably help facilitate more processing of information, in front of our eyes. That's where we believe that the data consumption will grow.
We believe for the next three-to-five years, the data consumption per head will probably go about 15% year-on-year, depending on the applications. So that's the big pictures. But also the growth of broadband, the fixed broadband in the cities, going to homes will also help reduce the mobile data consumption. Once people hop into home, they hook onto the fiber networks. Even though the consumption is high, but it's on fiber, there would be a mixture of that. So I would say it's a mix of segmentations where they live, a mix of the application services that are about to arise from video, AI, and many more to dictate the growth in mobile data consumptions.
Hello, Khun Pisut. On the EBITDA, I'm not quite understand what's the element you're looking for, but the revenue that we put on the guidance basically 3%-5%, and the EBITDA basically reflects what we also need to have a variable cost that, you know, come to the EBITDA line. On the CapEx, I think if you look at the depreciation and amortization, I think we look at the level of the D&A will be pretty similar to, you know, year-on-year. So that's why the top line 3%-5%, and the growth of EBITDA line is similar to the growth of the top line. And on the 2.1, basically what we are renting from the NT will end in August. And we also expect it'll come to the auctions, the price.
I think we also would like to, you know, save some money out of that, so I think that's maybe you can, we've also put that into the EBITDA forecast as well, so we already put some saving out of that on the 2.1. Is that answer your question, Khun Pisut?
Yes . Thank you very much .
Next, we have Piyush from HSBC.
Yeah, hi. Good afternoon and congratulations on a good set of results. A few questions. Firstly, on the mobile side, could you talk about the outlook for ARPU? What would be the key drivers for growth going forward? And in the tourist segment, how have been the trends lately? Year to date, is it comparable to last year, or are you seeing any, you know, is it in line with your expectation, etc.? Secondly, I have a set of questions on the upcoming spectrum auction. I know you have excluded the, you know, potential CapEx, subject to which spectrum you acquire, but two questions over there. If you acquire additional 1800 megahertz, what is the implication on your network CapEx? Because you, you know, you have existing 1800 megahertz spectrum, so we just wanted to pick your brains on that.
Secondly, if you acquire any TDD spectrum, which you don't have currently, then in that scenario, what are the implications on network CapEx? Thank you.
Let me address the first one. In terms of ARPU outlook, we do believe that the more consumptions, the more usage will lead to higher ARPU. Markets start to rationalize itself, as we continue on doing that. So I am positive about that. So that's the ARPU. Regarding the tourist segment, year-on-year, we've seen the growth, especially Q1, January compared to last year. Somehow, when we look at Q on Q, Q4 is the highest season, past already, and we are going to Q1. So I think month on month, Q on Q may not be as great. The taper off of the growth in Chinese tourists at this point may not bring a super positive Q on Q, but in general, year-on-year is as we expected.
On the spectrum auction, I just gave an interview to the public that AIS view is interested in every opportunity that we have because we cannot predict clearly what frequency that we bid based on the correlation of options also. That's why we will not link on any spectrum that we interest today. However, as I mentioned all the time that when we go to the auction, we will have the consultant to come up to consider both in the pricing and technology that we need in the future. Investors can estimate what frequency that we really need or we don't need, but by our clear, let's put clear word in the market, we cannot predict what we will interest or not interest.
In terms of the CapEx, you know, if you take into account the timing of the auctions, I think, you can say that, you know, the CapEx will be, you know, in the following years rather than, you know, heavily put into this year.
Right. But just, you know, I totally appreciate that you would not like to discuss your spectrum strategy, but theoretically, I'm just asking if you have to buy more spectrum in the same spectrum band, 1800, would it require additional network CapEx or that would be minimal?
Maybe, I think, let me try to help to extend I can. It's up to a certain bandwidth. I think then it will be minimum CapEx. Over and above certain bandwidth, we will need to invest in certain power units and things like that. I think there are certain limits on the technology. As far as TDD is concerned, I think more or less the same thing. TDD, I think it requires different, more investment compared to FDD.
Got it. Thank you very much.
Thank you. So we have Ranjan from JP Morgan.
Hi, good evening, and thank you for the opportunity. I apologize for keeping my camera off. A couple of questions from my side. Firstly, on the prepaid ARPU up 4.4% is pretty impressive growth in a single quarter. If you can help us understand what the drivers were. That's the first question. The second is, what are the changes that have been made, which you talked about, like there have been some efforts in the industry to rationalize tariffs? The third question is on the NT, once the agreement expires in August, what is the cost savings that we can expect? And the last question is that you started last year with a conservative guidance. Should we expect some level of conservatism from Advance this year as well in terms of the guidance? Thank you.
Ranjan, maybe the first question and second are probably intact. Let me address the first one regarding prepaid ARPUs. AIS has been and will continue to be very much focusing on the delivering values to quality customer. So we are highly emphasizing quality customer, quality acquisitions, as well as uplifting what best for customer. So with that, the prepaid customer in Q4 at the end got that result in terms of uplifting ARPU. So that's number one. Number two, there are also some small impact and effect on the tourist definitions because tourists who visited Thailand less than a month will definitely go into the base that month and go out of the base at the same month. So they are slightly fine-tuning in definition of number of customers for tourists as well. So those two impacts have helped on uplifting the ARPU as an overall for prepaid.
Your second question regarding tariff. For the past few quarters, we have been continuing on demonstrates that we are no longer carrying plans that isn't sustainable. So we continue on, eliminating that plan. So that has helped us improve and rationalize the market offering. And I believe industry also kind of see the same thing. So players around not so many going to the same directions.
On the 2.1, Ranjan, I think, we also have a better outlook in terms of the cost of 2.1, but we cannot, you know, address, you know, how much saving, you know, it's going to be because it's subject to the auctions coming. So, but, we anticipate some of the saving out of that.
Thank you.
What is your first question?
Yes. Sure. Thank you. First of all, thank you so much for answering the first three questions. The fourth is, when we had the same call at the beginning of last year, we felt there's a bit of conservatism that Advanced has in the guide, in the guidance. Should we anticipate some conservatism this year as well?
I think at the beginning of last year, I think we issued guidance based on that circumstance and then, you know, when it comes to the, you know, half-year result, I think we also, you know, try to be conservative, especially on the, you know, seasonal and also the disaster, you know, across Thailand as well, so I think we also issued guidance based on, you know, our projections and also the, you know, business strategies that we gather all together, so I think you can stick with that for this juncture.
Okay. Thank you very much and all the best.
Thank you . We have Khun Thitithep from KKPS.
Hi, hi. I have four questions. Can you hear me?
Yes .
I don't seem to be able to turn on the camera. I'm sorry. Oh, okay. Here I am. Okay. I have four questions. Number one, I noticed the regulatory fee was 3.9% of revenue in the fourth quarter. It is usually about 4.1% or 4.2%. Is there any special adjustment? Probably we come down to 3.9% permanently. Second one, you touched a little bit on the redefinition of the tourist. Can you help elaborate that? What exactly is the redefinition and whether this is a one-off or whether it would drag on into the first quarter in terms of net adds? Number three, I think AIS executives expressed interest in the 3,500 MHz in the spectrum sharing with two players yesterday. Can you tell us why you would need any more 5G spectrum when you already have plenty of 2,600?
The 5G subscriber is only one-fourth of your total subscriber. The last one, there's a lot of activities going on in Thailand suppressing the call center gang. I don't know how many SIM do they use. It could be a lot. Do you think is there any chance that it would have any material impact on the revenue going forward? Thank you for questions. For the first one, the first one on the regulatory fee, we last year, end of last year, we implemented the cell broadcast for, you know, NBTC. So we get the allowance from NBTC for the investment to put onto the saving on the regulatory fee. Basically, we have no profit on this investment, but we get allowance from NBTC. So that's what's the cause of the reduction?
So it's second one, it's one-off, right? It's a one-off deduction, and then we go back to 4.1% again.
That will be continued investments on the Q1 as well. But I think that will be fairly small compared to December.
Right. Okay. Thank you .
For the tourist SIMs definitions, literally the normal SIM will in general have roughly about 90 days of validity, when they top up. That's roughly the tourists who stay less than a month will then account as validity 30 days or less. So that would be a definition we continue on using from last quarter onward. It will be a permanent definition. So it will last, so that piece. What was the impact when you think about that? If there are subscribers whose validity is there as active customer for the month that they are not staying, the ARPU is zero. We definitely are not going to have that for tourists. So the ARPU will be exactly according to how they use and how they stay. So that it will be here for long.
Right. Okay.
For the spectrum auction, I think this year when we have the auction, it's really, really special condition because as you know, now the auction, today, we are the duopoly in the market. And second, they will auction multi-band, a lot of band. And they have the plan to auction 3.5 gig also in the next slot. However, when we have this opportunity to duopoly and also multi-band auction, why we not propose let them announce 3.5 gig in the same time? Even if they announce in this period, the condition that we gave to them that if they implement, like some operator AIS or to get this 3.5 gig , it doesn't mean we have to pay it upfront because the 3.5 gig is still waiting for a rearrangement from the broadcast sector.
We can pay later, but we can call all the frequency because I think in the near future, next three years, 3.5 gig also is the main frequency for our business also.
For your last question regarding call center gangs, we have been putting a very strong measure, for last year until now and ongoing on strictly onboarding the right customer. So many of the SIMs that call center gang has been using, as you saw from the news, it can be as many as 300,000 per gangs, per time. We hardly find those of which are our SIM. So whether there would be impact to AIS, we do not plan to have that impact because we are more or less plan not to have any SIM fall into the wrong hands. Okay.
That's very clear. Thank you very much . That's all the questions I have.
Thank you . Next we have Arthur from Citi, please. We cannot hear you. No?
Sorry, can you hear me now?
Yes.
Sorry about that. Thanks. Thanks for the opportunity. Just wondering, two questions, please. With regard to your margin guidance of 3%-5%, are you not expecting your EBITDA to actually grow faster versus your revenues given that there should be additional synergies coming from your 3BB acquisition? Is this mostly done in 2024, and therefore you're not seeing that benefit in 2025? The second question I had is with regard to the ARPU expansion comments earlier into this year. What will drive up the ARPUs? It seems like there's very little pricing activity to drive up ARPUs at the moment. Thank you.
I think from the margin standpoint, next year, there could be some, I would say, extra cost that we do expect to incur, not only in the broadband, but in the overall industry as well. So, I think that that's why you know you still see the margin go more or less the same rate as the revenue. I think that's people have a lot of questions in mind on that. To what extent we can say what expense we are thinking it may go up. There are some replacements, for example, on broadband side. There are some old equipment at the customer's premises that we need to replace because it's getting older and older, and that starts to impact the services, the service quality.
So there are some expense that we, you know, we see as come to the side that we need to replace. And second, I think there's some attempt or some effort to do the cable rearrangement. So that's something we also do factor in for the expenses next year as well. Just some example.
Thanks. For the CPE replacements, is that OpEx or CapEx for you?
Some will be OpEx and some will be CapEx.
Understood.
I think, Arthur, there's some of the for IT costs. Basically we move towards the subscription-based license rather than, you know, invest heavily on the CapEx as well. So that's also translate into the OpEx incremental. But the range three to five guidance top line and also the EBITDA levels is probably it's not the same numbers. Maybe the guidance gives some range for that. So it's not an exact, you know, same number.
Understood.
Your question about ARPU, I presume, is the mobile ARPUs. The improvement of mobile ARPU, as I mentioned earlier, that it came from a continuation of effort to eliminate the unsustainable plan, especially when we talk about THB 150 unlimited back then, for the past 24 months. If you may recall, there were in the markets that they called fixed speed low plan unlimited. This has been constantly taken out, because it's not sustainable to provide it, and that's the level of 150s. So we see, 150s still there, but it isn't unlimited anymore. It is unlimited. So customer now prefer to pick up the, let's say, prepaid, prefer to pick up the, plan, the on-top plan of THB 200 +, THB 250, and some of them going to THB 300. So that has helped improve ARPUs.
Understood. Is, is there any initiative on the broadband side to ramp up ARPUs?
I'm sorry, your question was, initiative to increase ARPU on broadband?
Yes.
Yeah, I think we try to, for sure, add on a few of the new services, especially I think to the higher end or the family segment, including, like you saw, we launched last year, I think the Soundbar, so, you know, that target the family and entertainment group of people. We also try to offer more bundling services to bring up ARPUs. We also like to increase the number of services per household that they have with us. So I think later on, throughout the year, we try to uplift and upsell to existing customers plus the new stuff that we're going to sell. Hopefully, you know, we push them to a higher tier of ARPU.
Understood. Thank you very much.
Thank you. We have Khun Wasu from Maybank, ka.
Good evening and congratulations on the strong results. So I have three questions. The first one is about the tax loss carry forward. So I've noticed that by the end of 2024, AIS has THB 4.2 billion of tax loss carry forward, and it's going to expire during the period of 2026 to 2029. So my question is, do you plan to utilize all of this before they expire? So that's the first question. The second question is about the addressable market for the fixed broadband business. According to AIS management team, like, what is the size of the market in terms of the fixed broadband household penetration for the whole industry for the next three years? And my last question is on the room for more synergy and cost savings between AIS and 3BB.
Like, what is the action plan for this year? Is there a plan to, perhaps, reduce the number of shops or any types of brand consolidation going forward? So that's the third question. Thank you.
Let me address the first question on the tax loss carry forward. So basically, as long as you make profit, you utilize the loss carry forward. So I think what we do our best is try to make 3BB become profitable, you know, as much as possible. But whether or not we're going to utilize all of that is subject to, you know, what profit we can make throughout the next four years. So I think that's probably we're not putting any forecast in terms of the, you know, how we get the tax loss utilization, but we will make sure that the effective tax rate is complied with the Pillar 2 tax. So we not try to, you know, lower managed tax expenses, but we will utilize, you know, whatever we can for us.
Yeah, on the addressable market for broadband, I think right now, I'm not sure what penetration percentage we are using. 36% because we now have a new total number of households, right? Right now, I think if the number is 29 million households, we at least do expect up to 60%, at least, but it has to come with maybe the type of services that's going to help expand the market as well. I think we find it that the market is still growing, but it's at a lower rate, because the people a lot of time using mobile as a way to connect to internet at home.
But in the future, once the services are, you know, expanding into relevant, you know, services at home, then hopefully, you know, people will opt to have another line at home rather than using internet through mobile. Plus, we also need to create product to cater for certain segments, for example, a lot of rental houses, or rental apartments that, you know, people have right now. I think right now the contract period is a bit too long for them to subscribe, 24 months. Sometimes they cannot guarantee that or even expats. I think depending on, I think the new type of product and services that are going to come out. So hopefully we can still push the market to grow.
And I think your last question about cost saving from the integration this year. I think we will continue to fire on our engines on the network. We still continue on the integration, helping us save some of the expansion costs on the network coverage. Second, on the procurement front, you know, when we combine volume, we can negotiate at a cheaper cost for service to customers. Last to mention, yes, we're looking to consolidate certain shops that are overlapped in the service areas. The operating cost at the region as well. So this year we can move into the go-to-market part of the organization to start to combine and integrate the resources. And hopefully, you know, by end of the year, early next year, we will have kind of one operation team.
Thank you .
Ka, we have Khun Pisut from KSEC again .
Yes. Hello. Can you hear me?
Yes.
Yes. Thanks for the opportunity. I have three follow-up questions. The first one is about your dividend payout indication, which you just raised it to 90% from 88% last year. If looking forward, there should not be any major investment for you apart from the spectrum auctions. How should I interpret this two percentage point addition? Either the first, it is at best you can manage it, or you decide to preserve some flexibility for auction uncertainties. My second question is regarding your demand for an additional mid-band spectrum in this auction round. Just want to know how serious do you need to buy more spectrum, other than 2.1 gigahertz from NT that's going to expire?
If you and your competitor just get the spectrum that will expire back, which means that you get only 2.1 and True get only 2.3, which mean that your mid-band holding may be inferior to your competitors with a big gap. Could that affect your competitiveness in the future considering the possible jump in the data consumption trend continuing? And my last question is on your handset sales strategy. Just noticed that you and your competitor turned more aggressive in the handset trading business lately, given the launch of Galaxy S25. Would this just an occasional tactic or ongoing tactic further? Thank you .
Let me answer you on the multi-band option first, nè. AIS will consider on every band that we have opportunity. I think it's not only 2.1 or 2.3. I think 2.6 also things like this. If the price is not too high and there are opportunities, everyone will acquire more frequency in hand in this round. That's why we propose a 3.5 also to make us more opportunity to have the mid-band in our hand. So, as for 5G, very sure we to be a leader in this market, we have to have some frequency, cannot less than our competitor also.
On the payout, Khun Pisut, I think we try to raise the bar. We've been sticking with 88% for a few years. The free cash flow we have for this year, I think we'll be able to pay more. We also reserve something for next coming, you know, spectrum auction. But just to bear in mind, you know, we also need to balance this with the credit rating agency as well. They monitor us at the net debt to EBITDA. So if the, you know, we also need to make sure that, you know, we have enough cash for the future needs on the financial.
I think if we can go, you know, as much as we can, but I think we also need to be sustained, you know. We're not just, you know, raising the bar and then next year, you know, we lower the bar. I think that's what we plan to do.
For your question regarding handset sales, handset and the new launch of model are highly seasonal. Last quarter Q4, there were iPhones. This quarter, there is S25, and this quarter in conjunction and in combined with e-taxes. So there are a lot of sales market, not only AIS, but I think everyone. We are in collaboration with Samsung and partners, to run a lot of marketing campaign in hope that we stimulate a kind of demand in the markets. I would say as the normal marketing activities and demand generation happening all along .
Thank you very much .
Ka, we have Min Ling from Alpha Absolute .
Good evening. Can you hear me?
Yes.
Okay. Sorry, I cannot turn on the camera because I'm working from home and I have no camera. And I have two questions. First, can you correct me if I'm wrong? To my knowledge, lately, AIS uses equipment that can receive both 2100 megahertz and 1800 megahertz at the same time. And you have, too, you have 2100 megahertz , 2600 megahertz and 1800 megahertz. So if you can get 1800 megahertz in the coming auction, the investment of the equipment in 1800 megahertz should be less than 2300 megahertz that you never invest in the equipment before. If my understanding is correct.
I would say you're generally not wrong. The equipment nowadays, they call it multi-band RRU, meaning radio receiving units and broadcasting units are supporting multiple bands. That multiple band normally two bands or three bands depending on version of the equipment. If the band is supported and adding more frequency, we have literally cheaper costs. New bands like 2300 megahertz , 3500 megahertz would require a bit more in the new equipment, but it's no longer expensive nowadays. It's really affordable to add in as the capacity expansion is no major one, even though we were to get the new frequencies back.
Thank you. And the next question is about, in the past, normally after the public hearing, NBTC would change any criteria referred to the public hearing before?
Yes, yes. Depends on the NBTC committee also, but they should to listen. If not, they don't have the public hearing to provoke all the thought.
Thank you very much.
Ka, we have Khun Thitithep from KKPS .
Hi. I have just one follow-up question. Your marketing expenses as a percentage of sales in the fourth quarter was 3.0%. That's a record low. I'm wondering, you know, how much coming from the mild competition in the market and how much coming from your shifting from the mass media, which is expensive, to the online media, which is cheaper. And I wonder whether that ratio is sustainable because if you look at this ratio, it has been coming down, your marketing expenses as percentage of sales.
The marketing expense is highly seasonal in a lot of factors. The sustainable one that we see right now is the optimizing of device subsidies. You know, we are very focused on getting the proper subsidy and return in terms of ARPU, lifetime values, and that has been continued on optimize, so that helps us save, but when we talk about seasonality, it means that once sometime is low season and we need to stimulate that we need to spend marketing dollars. The iPhone comes, both good time and bad time means that once the demand is there, we literally no need to market that much, so they come and they pick it up, we can save marketing dollars, so I would say they up and down depending on seasonality, but we continue on optimizing.
But the perception of having, you said about, online is cheaper than traditional media. I don't think so. I think it's the same price anyway.
Right. Okay. Okay . That's very clear. Thank you. That's all the questions I have.
So we don't have any question from the chat box as well. If you want to ask any question, you can approach to our IR. We have Piyush HSBC with hands up. Piyush, please.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for giving me another opportunity. I have two questions. Firstly, on the broadband, could you share your target for network expansion and subscriber additions? Like, what is the expectation over there? Secondly, on the mobile side, can you share, like, on the consumer AI applications, are you seeing any early trends which is helping to, you know, increase the data usage on the AI use cases? Which are the kind of AI use cases you are seeing to, you know, help increase data usage? Thanks.
No, I think on the expansion of the network, I don't think we'll expand that much this year. We target maybe certain areas that we haven't covered, but overall, I think we are pretty happy with the coverage we have. In terms of the subscribers expansion, I think we have a large base now, and typically, I think if you follow our churn rate, you know, I think we are quite at a good churn rate at the moment, even with that, you know, to sustain net add per year, it's a tough job, so I think we still expect to have more or less, you know, net add at the rate that we had before.
But what we try to do more is get into the new segment of the customers that typically they either not interested in having broadband at home or they have some need some more convincing factors to do so. I think that's why we mentioned about certain product, you know, for certain segments or the add-on services to actually give more value to customers when they have broadband at home. And that's, that's another way to, to expand the market faster.
Regarding the consumers' potential device services that could be stipulated, the uplift in consumption from AI is remained to be seen. We can actually imagine, I think every one of us have heard about real-time processing of videos. We can imagine that when it comes to multiple forms of device like glasses, that can constantly stream the video you see up to the internet and then processing in real time, giving a response, that would add on the consumption on the uplink of the data consumptions. Currently, by and large, the data consumption came from mobile videos, either short video or long-form videos, social media.
We truly believe that with the rise of AI and cheaper-gen AI, about to come, as we saw, it will help many developers and ecosystems to come up with, more application service as well as more new forms of devices, which is at the end stimulate usage.
Got it. Thank you very much.
Okay. I think that are all the questions we have for today. And this is the end of our session. So thank you very much for participating. Let me remind you again about our analyst meeting on the 17th of February. If you have not registered, please do so and see you again in the next event . Thank you.