Morning. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Taiwan Mobile conference call. Mr. Lin, please begin your call and then stand by for the question- and- answer session. Thank you.
Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Taiwan Mobile's third quarter 2023 results conference call. Before we start our presentation, let's first go over our disclaimer as per usual. Disclaimer. The information contained in this presentation, including all forward-looking information, is subject to change without notice, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, and Taiwan Mobile Co., Ltd., or hereafter the Company, undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this presentation. No representation or warranty, either of expressed or implied, is provided in relation to the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information contained herein, nor is the information intended to be a complete statement of the company, markets, or developments referred to in this presentation. All right, now let's take a look at our business overview. Please turn to page four for highlights of the quarter.
In 2023, our consolidated revenues rose by 7% YoY, underpinned by solid outputs from our three core engines, namely 5G, e-commerce, and home broadband. Our mobile service revenue growth accelerated to 7% YoY from 2% for the same period a year ago, marking the highest YoY increase for a quarter since 5G launch three years ago. This was driven mainly by the reliable pace of 5G conversion, the success of this year's iPhone launch, robust recovery in roaming business, as well as the turnaround of our 4G business, which I will talk about later. Meanwhile, momo continued to outperform its peers and posted a 7% YoY e-commerce revenue increase during the quarter. Our home broadband subscribers grew by 5% YoY at the same time as we continue to cross-sell mobile and pay TV customers.
Next, let's turn to page five for a closer look at our mobile business. During 3Q 2023, Taiwan Mobile's mobile business continued to execute our sustainable growth foundation strategy methodically. As a result, our smartphone postpaid ARPU is now back at TWD 715 , a four-year high, with a YoY growth rate of 5.6%, marking the 10th straight quarter of YoY increase. Note that YoY growth rate was 2.5 year, a year ago, 2.5% a year ago, which means we have more than doubled the YoY expansion speed. Consequently, our mobile service revenue has returned to its early 2019 levels. These positive outcomes were mainly driven by our unique bundles, effective upselling on contract renewals, as well as further recovery in roaming revenues, which rose 15% sequentially in the quarter.
Upselling is one of the two key pillars in our SGF strategy. As you can see from the chart on the top right, when our customers renew their contracts from 4G to 5G, we have consistently delivered over 40% monthly fee lifts. The tricky part is when they stick with 4G during their renewals, choose to be—which used to result in lower monthly fees, and hence was attracted to our ARPU. However, since 2023, we have successfully turned our 4G business around, thanks to the team's remarkable effort in executing our SGF strategy, especially on upselling customers to our unique 4G bundles. The monthly fee lift for 4G to 4G renewals further expanded to +2% in the past quarter.
Due to this trend, on a blended basis, the monthly fee lifts, the monthly fee uplifts for all renewals, has been steadily rising to reach +10% in 3Q 2023. Given the 5G penetration in our smartphone user base is only at 34% as of 3Q 2023, which you can see on the bottom right chart. We think that there is still a long runway ahead of us for sustained ARPU growth. Adoption of our unique bundles, namely, Mobile Double Play, Disney+, and OP Life, have continued to grow further and now accounts for 24% of our smartphone postpaid user base. It bodes especially well for customer loyalty, evidenced by a postpaid monthly churn rate of 0.81% in 3Q 2023. As a result, our smartphone postpaid subs saw the healthy 2% YoY uptick.
As you can clearly see, our SGF flywheel has ramped up speed, and we will, we will continue to push it. Next, let's turn to page six for updates on our e-commerce business. We continue to see mid-doubling growth in our e-commerce revenue in Q3 2023, as consumers allocate their discretionary spending towards leisure activities, especially during summer months. That said, our e-commerce EBITDA margin was still resilient and ahead of the pack. On the logistics side, we added one more warehouse during the quarter, taking the total number of distribution facilities to 56. That is five more than a year ago. The southern distribution center is slated to be up and running by the, by early next year, with the central distribution center to follow in 2023. This will expand our coverage of rapid delivery services and further widen the moat.
As for momo Coin and its ecosystem, we continue to focus on broadening its usability. By the end of 2023, our mobile user base has grown to 735,000, and now contributes 12.4% of momo's e-commerce revenue. Next, let's take a look at our broadband business on the next page. In 2023, the unit's revenue and EBITDA were both resilient. As we continue to focus on growing our cable broadband footprint, steady demand for faster home connectivity, as well as our cross-selling efforts, led to a 5% YoY increase in broadband subs. With existing broadband users, we focused on upgrading them to higher speeds. As a result, our subscribers who opted for speeds of 300 Mbps or higher rose by 57% YoY.
While we only rank as the fourth largest MSO in, and with an 11% footprint for cable TV services, we have expanded our cable broadband coverage to 85% by teaming up with most of the leading MSOs in the country via our Double P lay bundles. Now let me pass the virtual mic over to our CFO, George Chang, for financial overview.
Thank you, Jamie. Good afternoon, everyone. Let's start with the performance by business. In 3Q 2023, consolidated revenue rose by 7% YoY, driven by solid performance in our telecom business. Mobile service revenue grew YoY for 10 quarters in a row, thanks to ARPU improvement amid steady 5G conversion and benign 4G pricing. This, along with the healthy expansion of a fixed line service revenue, allowed us to record our highest telecom service revenue since 4Q 2018, 4Q 2018. As a result, telecom EBITDA and consolidated EBITDA both went up by 4% year-over-year in 3Q 2023. momo's EBITDA increased YoY as well, due to improved efficiency in its logistic network. Growing broadband subs and good traction in our cross-selling bundles kept cable TV EBITDA steady year-over-year during the quarter. Let's go to the results summary.
With a healthy performance in our three core engines, 5G, e-commerce, and home broadband, consolidated revenue rose by 7% YoY in the quarter. Consolidated operating income recorded a 5% year-over-year uptick in 3Q 2023, driven by healthy telecom EBITDA growth and a muted rise in D&A expenses. Non-operating expenses went up year-over-year on the back of higher financing costs from rising interest rates, lower exchange gains in U.S. dollar assets, as well as a high base in momo's disposal in gains. As a result, net income grew by 3% year-over-year in 3Q 2023. Let's move on to the balance sheet. Starting with assets, receivables rose year-over-year, owing to an increase in post-paid subscribers and monthly fee contribution from our mobile bundle plans, along with momo's growth.
As for liabilities, the year-over-year climb in payables was driven by the launch of new iPhones and Google Pixel phones, as well as momo's business expansion. Gross debt rose quarter-over-quarter to TWD 71.6 billion on account of bank borrowing to fund our dividend payment in the quarter. A TWD 37.2 billion legal reserve and capital surplus is available for future dividend top-up. Benefiting from a decent free cash flow generation and growing EBITDA, our net debt to EBITDA fell YoY to 1.71x in the quarter, the lowest 3Q level in the past four years. Lastly, let's look at the cash flow analysis. Operating cash inflow increased by 12% YoY in 3Q 2023, thanks to steady telecom EBITDA growth, good handset inventory turnover, and cash receipts from SI projects.
Investing cash outflow rose year-over-year in 3Q 2023, mainly attributable to higher 5G government subsidies received a year ago. Year to date, both CapEx and other investing cash outflows decreased year-over-year, leading to a TWD 2 billion drop in overall investing cash outflows. As for financing activities, 3Q 2023 cash outflow declined year-over-year, reflecting the timing difference in momo's dividend payments. This year is in second quarter, last year was in third quarter. On the back of stable operating cash flow and 21% fall in investing cash outflow, free cash flow calculated on a pre-IFRS 16 basis for the first three quarters increased by 10% year-over-year, to TWD 11.42 billion, translating to an annualized free cash flow yield of 5.7%.
Let's turn the presentation back to Jamie for the event update and key message.
All right, thank you, George. So first, let's take a look at where we are with the merger with T Star. We received the conditional approval from the Fair Trade Commission on October 11th, following NCC's approval back in January this year. We're now at the final stage of the process and have set the merger effective date for December 1st this year. I think this is also a good time for us to revisit our network consolidation plans, post T Star merger. The top left chart illustrates our combined spectrum portfolio, with Taiwan Mobile and T Star blocks, each marked with orange and purple colors. As you can see, the new TWM will have 100 MHz of spectrum on the 3.5 GHz frequency band, which is the most valuable and most effective frequency for 5G services.
As we discussed it before, 3.5G intraband carrier aggregation technologies have been supported by iPhone since 2021. In other words, iPhone 13 and upwards, and an ever-increasing lineup of Android models, including Samsung S22 and plus. This will allow phones to take full advantage of the maximum speed our 100 MHz spectrum has to offer, with virtually no efficacy loss from the non-contiguity. Taiwan Mobile sees no technical difficulties turning on this relatively mature technology that our current equipment already supports. Moreover, in terms of providing capacity to both consumers and enterprise users, having two blocks actually gives us more flexibility to dynamically dedicate resources towards the most demanding customers at any given moment.
As for spectrum for 4G services, the return of 10 MHz will not affect the total 4G spectrum available to users, as we wind down T Star's network 3G service and take the TST 10 MHz spectrum on the 21 MHz spectrum band, originally dedicated for 3G use and refarm it to 4G use. So - 10 MHz, + 10 MHz on a net-net basis, the total 4G spectrum available to our combined users will remain at the same level. While the number of stations increases, this will create a better net experience for users on both sides. Regarding the CapEx additions we've announced previously, here are some recurring benefits we target from this one-off CapEx in network consolidation.
Electricity savings as we shut down TST's 3G network and part of its 4G equipment, rental savings as we tear down most of T Star's 4G sites, less CapEx in future, since we will be upgrading and moving T Star's 5G equipment to new sites, and OpEx savings from rent and leased lines, et cetera. I hope this helps you better understand the great benefits we're getting out of this deal. Finally, on the next page, I'm delighted to share some achievements we have attained this quarter as we continue to recognize-- to be recognized for our commitment to the best fa- ESG practices. During the quarter, Taiwan Mobile became the first and only telecom company in Asia, whose 1.5-degree Celsius-aligned science-based emission reduction targets to reach net zero by 2050, were validated by the SBTi.
We were also named in the Financial Times and Statista's climate leaders ranking, ranking second in the Asia Pacific region as the only Taiwanese company telecom, Taiwanese telecom company on the list. And we're included in the FTSE4 Good TIP Taiwan ESG Index for the sixth consecutive year. We received awards for talent, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility from CommonWealth Magazine, and won the Special Award for Digital Resiliency at the 2023 IDC Future Enterprise Awards as well. Last but not least, we published our first TCFD report, improving our transparency around climate risks and opportunities. Finally, to wrap up our presentation, here is the key message we would like for you to take away with. As our flywheel continues to pick up speed, Taiwan Mobile delivered a solid set of operating results in the third quarter, with growth acceleration seen in our core business.
Steady rise in 5G penetration, our unique bundles and Telco+T ech strategies, win-win collaboration with group companies, as well as our integration with Taiwan Star, will continue to provide a tailwind to our longer-term performance. With that, let's open the floor for questions. Just a reminder, we are currently in the quiet period due to new share issuance for the merger, and therefore we will not be able to discuss any forward-looking information during this call. If you're participating online, you're welcome to send your questions via the chat box. We will begin by addressing the telephone line questions before we move on to the web. So operators, operator, please go ahead.
Thank you, Mr. Lin. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now poll for questions. If you'd like to register for a question, please press star one on your telephone. Thank you. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, that is star one for questions. Our first question comes from Neale Anderson with HSBC. Please go ahead.
Hi there. Good afternoon, thanks for the opportunity. So I have a question on the mobile business, please, and, particularly relating to the focus on Double Play, and the operating costs. So I, I believe that you've been expanding the Double Play push for about maybe three quarters now. So what I'm interested in is, to what extent the cost and the profit profile might, might change, or the trend might change as we, lap the, the introduction of the focus on, on Double Play. So it looks as though you have a good forward momentum from migration to 5G, but, how about the cost outlook from the, the Double Play side? Thank you.
Thanks, Neale. So, in terms of Double Play, we're seeing a much stronger take up on higher rate plans. And in terms of the EBITDA profile, it's not that much different from a handset rate plan. So essentially, either customers opt for a handset rate plan or a Double Play rate plan, the profitability profiles are quite similar. Hope that answers your question.
Okay. Thank you. If I could follow up, I think you've also been focusing on longer term contracts, so three years and four years. Are you able to give any disclosure on what proportion of smartphone or 5G customers are tied in for a longer period of time now?
It's in a double-digit percentage. It sort of. Yeah, that's probably the only thing I can talk about.
Right. Okay, okay. And then, so the quiet period, you can't discuss anything. So the sort of order of timing of the areas of savings you mentioned on slide 15, can you give any indication on which you'd expect to see sooner and which will take a bit longer to develop, or is that off limits?
Let me consult my legal team. I'll be right back.
Great.
All right, Neale, I, I think we can talk about it. So, the sort of consolidation of stations will happen rather quickly. And, so the synergy savings from rents and leased lines will be sort of faster to be realized.
Got it. That's great. Thanks very much for your help.
Great. Thanks, Neale.
Thank you. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to register for a question, please press star one on your telephone. Thank you. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, there's star one for questions. Once again, ladies and gentlemen.
So operator, there's no-
No question, at the moment, Mr. Lin.
Okay. We also are not seeing any questions from the web. So if that's the case, let's wrap it up. Operator, I think we can wrap it up.
Okay, sure. Thank you. Thank you for. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation, you may now disconnect. Thank you. Goodbye.
All right. Thanks, everyone. I'll see you next quarter.