Total revenue reached HK$4,889 million

with profit attributable to equity shareholders of HK$455 million

Interim dividend of HK6.0 cents per share

(16 August 2024, Hong Kong) — CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (“CITIC Telecom” or the “Group”; stock code: 1883), Asia-Pacific leading multinational internet-oriented telecommunications enterprise providing comprehensive services, has announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2024 (the “Period”).

The Group recorded total revenue of HK$4,889 million (1H2023: HK$5,326 million), profit attributable to equity shareholders of HK$455 million (1H2023: HK$721 million), and basic earnings per share of HK12.3 cents (1H2023: HK19.5 cents). In response to changes in various external factors, some customers have made corresponding adjustments to their businesses since the second half of 2023, which resulted in a substantial decrease in revenue from messaging services in international telecommunications services during the Period, leading revenue from the Group’s principal business of telecommunications services declined by 11.3% year-on-year to HK$4,160 million. Revenue from mobile services, internet services and enterprise solutions increased, which alleviated some of the downward pressure and demonstrated the Group’s strong business resilience and growth potential.

The Board declared an interim dividend of HK6.0 cents per share for 2024, which is in line with the corresponding period of the previous year.

Mr. LUO Xicheng, Chairman of CITIC Telecom, said, “In the first half of 2024, in response to various external challenges, the entire Group made concerted efforts to uphold integrity and innovation and forge ahead, demonstrating firm determination and resilience for development. While continuing to consolidate its traditional telecommunications business, the Group is striving to seize the opportunities arising from the deep integration of the real economy and the digital economy driven by the next-generation reform of information technology, deepen transformation and innovation, and facilitate business transformation and development through digitalisation and intelligentisation, so as to mitigate the impact.”

The Group has maintained a healthy financial position and stable cash flows. As at 30 June 2024, the Group recorded cash and deposits of approximately HK$1,561 million. The cash and deposits balance and undrawn committed bank and other loan facilities are sufficient to meet the financial requirements and contractual capital commitments for the next twelve months. As at 30 June 2024, the Group’s net debt amounted to HK$2,363 million and the net gearing ratio amounted to 18% (at the end of 2023: 17%).

Business Highlights

Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau, S.A.R.L. (“CTM”) consolidated the scale advantages of “5G+Broadband”, focusing on user value and technology upgrades. By the end of June 2024, CTM’s share of Macau’s mobile market had reached 50.0%, firmly ranking first. The number of 5G users exceeded 620,000, with a penetration rate of 87.9%. In July 2024, CTM launched 5.5G commercial services, propelling Macau into the “5.5G Era” and making it one of the first 5.5G commercialised cities in the world.

Meanwhile, CTM actively empowered customers from various sectors such as government affairs, enterprises, education, healthcare, and finance in their digitalisation upgrades. As at the end of June 2024, CTM has launched a total of 9 5G private network solutions and implemented 13 smart application scenarios, such as the launch of “Dr. Easy”, the one-stop smart healthcare solution. As at the end of June 2024, CTM has launched bilateral 5G roaming services with 140 overseas network operators (covering 104 countries/regions), bilateral 4G roaming services with 392 overseas network operators (covering 221 countries/regions) and bilateral VoLTE roaming services with 39 overseas network operators (covering 44 countries/regions).

Revenue from mobile sales and services, including revenue from sales of mobile handsets and equipment and revenue from mobile services, increased by 13.4% year-on-year to HK$1,239 million. Benefiting from the increase in roaming revenue and the increase in the number of mobile subscribers, the Group’s mobile services revenue amounted to HK$510 million, representing an increase of 11.6% over the corresponding period of last year.

Demand for internet and data centre services continued to grow. During the Period, CTM continued to promote customer service upgrades with Fibre-to-the-room solutions. As at the end of June 2024, CTM maintained its top ranking in Macau’s broadband services sector with a market share of 97.0%. According to the broadband network test report published by the international website cable.co.uk in July 2024, Macau ranked third in the world in terms of average fixed broadband download speed at 234.74Mbps. The Group’s internet services revenue amounted to HK$737 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 4.5%.

The voice services business achieved significant growth and the revenue from the “DataMall自由行” business continued to increase. International telecommunications services revenue, which includes revenue from messaging services, voice services and “DataMall自由行” services, was HK$1,237 million (1H 2023: HK$1,951 million). Since the second half of 2023, certain customers have made corresponding adjustments to their businesses, which adversely impacted the Group’s messaging services revenue. However, the Group successfully achieved a significant increase in its voice services revenue by 74.6% year-on-year to HK$899 million, which partially offset the decline in messaging services revenue. In addition, revenue from “DataMall自由行” services continued its growth momentum and achieved an increase of 19.6% to HK$67 million when compared with the corresponding period of last year.

Enterprise solutions revenue increased steadily. During the first half of 2024, revenue from enterprise solutions increased by 6.8% year-on-year to HK$1,608 million, mainly due to an increase in the number of projects awarded to the Group by the government and enterprises in Macau and Southeast Asian countries (including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia), which offset the decline in the Group’s enterprise solutions revenue in the Chinese mainland market.

Facilitated the integration of “Cloud, Network, Intelligence and Security” and enhanced competitiveness by diversified products. CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited, a subsidiary of the Group, facilitated the rapid development of new businesses and developed diversified revenue streams through cross-selling “Cloud, Network, Intelligence and Security” products to customers. It integrated core technologies such as Large Language Model, AI and data algorithm platforms to enhance the intelligent and automation capabilities of existing core products, thus creating differentiated competitive advantages by focusing on the “ICT- MiiND™” strategy. It also developed an AI service platform to provide comprehensive open services for data processing and model development, and continued to expand its network coverage, deployed the first network point-of-presence (PoP) in Dubai, UAE, and adding the second PoP in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. As at the end of June 2024, the virtual private network service covered 160 countries and regions worldwide with nearly 170 PoPs.

Developed new markets through globalisation strategy and fully explored new business opportunities overseas. During the Period, Acclivis Technologies and Solutions Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of the Group, further accelerated its expansion in the Southeast Asian market. In Singapore, it partnered with a globally renowned major hardware provider to offer server deployment to local customers. In Malaysia, it completed several data centre ICT projects.

Actively promoted expansion into new domains. In the first half of 2024, the Group and CTM officially joined the Open Gateway development Initiative launched by GSMA and won the first prize in the Open Gateway Programming Marathon during the Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2024, demonstrating the Group’s technological accumulation and innovative capabilities in this field, as well as garnering the attention of the industry and partners.

Development Strategies

Going forward, the Group will continue to adhere to the innovation-driven and market-oriented approach, strengthen its technological leadership, proactively respond to the challenges of the global economic environment, seize the strategic development opportunities brought about by the new round of technological and industrial revolutions in the information and communications industry, and strive to expand into new fields and new markets, so as to inject a steady stream of impetus for the enterprise’s high-quality development, and make every effort to develop into a “world-class internet-oriented integrated digital and intelligent telecommunications enterprise”.

The Group will leverage the leading advantages of 5G and participate in the construction of “Digital Macau 3.0”. Through the application of 5.5G technology and the leading digital base of smart cities, CTM will introduce and create more smart application solutions for Macau, explore diversified and innovative services, and help all sectors in Macau to accelerate the pace of digital transformation and promote the construction of “Digital Macau 3.0”.

The Group will comprehensively deepen digital transformation and upgrading, and promote the development of new quality productive forces. Based on the existing integrated platform of “Cloud, Network, Intelligence and Security”, the Group will integrate emerging technologies such as Large Language Model, big data algorithms and AI to continuously enrich its digital intelligent services and product portfolio, and support its global customers in their digital transformation and intelligent development. Meanwhile, the Group will actively implement the GSMA Open Gateway development concept, work with global industry partners to create and build a capacity sharing platform, and actively participate in Open Gateway industry innovation to promote technological upgrades, enrich application scenarios and create new business opportunities.

The Group will also further strengthen its global business presence and empower all industries to expand internationally in an intelligent manner. Adhering closely to the strategic positioning of “With the backing of the Mainland, Setting a foothold in Hong Kong and Macau, and Connecting to the World”, the Group will expand its global business presence, further strengthen its efforts in mature markets such as Hong Kong and Macau, fully implement the “Belt and Road” strategy of high-quality development, and expand into emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and BRIC countries. The Group is committed to becoming a digital intelligent partner for enterprises to “go global” and “draw in new opportunities”, thereby empowering the global development of all industries.

Mr. LUO Xicheng, Chairman of CITIC Telecom, said, “Currently, the ongoing technological and industrial revolutions is accelerating, while the digital economy is burgeoning, portending ever-expanding vistas of industry development and a proliferation of emergent opportunities. The Group has a decades-long development foundation in the industry and has gained wide recognition in the market. Relying on our accumulated strengths in the industry, we will continue to advance into new domains such as AI+, Data Element X and IoT, constantly deepen the close cooperation with strategic partners, operators and research institutions, seize market opportunities, accelerate transformation and innovation, and vigorously expand new markets and customer bases to promote the Group’s long-term healthy and high-quality development and continuously create greater value for shareholders and the society.”