MESSAGE FROM CHAIRMAN & CEO
2022 was a year our Thai economy gradually recovered in the wake of the acceleration in economic activity following the subsided COVID-19 pandemic. However, the macroeconomic factors and the fast-changing global situation brought on by a confluence of factors, including rising energy costs and increasing inflation posed challenges to all sectors in Thailand. Regardless of such difficulties, AIS has remained fully committed to continuously improving the service experiences by differentiating services’ quality and standards to support Thailand’s digital economic activities and the customers’ growing demands for technological advances prompted by digital disruption.
With an investment of 30 billion baht in 2022, AIS achieved its target to expand the 5G network to cover 85% of the total Thai population together with developing a full-service 5G ecosystem, resulting in the exponential growth of 5G users in this year. We also invested to expand the home broadband network to allow more users in remote areas to access AIS Fibre services. These endeavors were instrumental in driving Thailand’s digital economy and contributing enormously to our achievement of the business targets.
In addition to accelerating growth in our core businesses, we are determined to continue improving the capabilities of our human capital and enhance internal cost management and control to cope with the rising cost challenges. Last year, we incorporated digital technology into the work processes together with cost optimization program so that the economic conditions would not limit us to pass on superior services to customers and deliver great returns to all shareholders. In 2022, AIS achieved a net profit of 26,011 million baht and paid out a total of 22,872 million baht in dividends, accounting for 88% of the year’s net profit.
On top of being at the forefront as a digital service provider, AIS pledges to be a leader in the development of the digital ecosystem. The digitalization efforts through efficient infrastructure and digital ecosystem which can cater to various applications have been enhancing our potential and competitiveness and helping us to achieve mutual growth for all parties. In the previous year, with our cooperation with various partners, AIS developed and improved our product and service portfolio to consolidate the digital ecosystem in Thailand; central to these are:
5G Nextgen: A platform that allows the Thai business sectors to explore and apply 5G-enabled solutions that best suit their businesses to streamline work processes and enhance competitiveness in different spheres.
AIS CloudX: Drawing upon collaborative efforts with our partners with unrivaled expertise, the product supports enterprise clients’ flexible cloud management. The distinctive capability of connecting to other digital infrastructure and the 5G network securely and conveniently offers a more friendly alternative for enterprise customers to access a highly secured cloud service.
Data Center: In 2022, Gulf, Singtel and AIS entered into an agreement to establish a data center business to cater for fast growing digital usage in Thailand. This dynamic growth has made Thailand an attractive target for the digital investment of multiple hyperscalers and opened opportunities for AIS to thrive in new growth areas in the future.
Aside from the digital ecosystem, we are dedicated to developing a more diverse and comprehensive privilege and point ecosystem to elevate service experiences and values for our customers. As such, in 2022 we established partnerships with allies in several industries including Bangchak Group, Central Group, Citibank Group, and Krungthai Bank. Such efforts are part of AIS’ key strategies for fostering strong ties between AIS and customers which helps strengthen AIS’ competitiveness for the long term.
Above all, AIS has attached the utmost importance to conducting business alongside sustainable development. To this end, the Company’s business operations are intertwined with sustainability goals under the concept of “Thriving in a greener and inclusive digital world” which creates mutual growth between mankind and the environment, spanning in three dimensions: 1) driving digital economy, 2) promoting digital inclusion, and 3) acting on climate. These three dimensions of the sustainable development framework are believed to stimulate everyone in Thailand to embark upon the digital economy with concern for the environment. The strong determination and collaboration of all units in AIS resulted in the Company having won multiple prestigious accolades in 2022 including High Commended Sustainability Awards from the Stock Exchange of Thailand for companies operating in line with a sustainable development approach and has been listed on the SET THSI Index for the eight consecutive years. At an international level, AIS has been listed in the DJSI World and Emerging Market Indices in the telecommunications industry category for four consecutive years and in the FTSE 4 Good Index Series for eight years running. These coveted accolades have brought great pride for AIS, and it is a true testament to our unwavering commitment to escalating the growth of digital infrastructure and fostering readiness in developing society and Thailand towards a sustainable digital economy. The endeavors are aligned with the evolving environmental, social, and economic challenges in pursuit of the goals to grow robustly and create values for all groups of stakeholders in a sustainable manner.
AIS would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to our customers, employees, and shareholders for growing together with us and taking part in creating sustainability and developing the infrastructure and digital ecosystem in Thailand.
Warm regards,
Mr. Kan Trakulhoon
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Mr. Somchai Lertsutiwong
Chief Executive Officer