36. CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

The capital structure of the Group is as follows:


	2018			2019
	Amount	Portion		Amount	Portion
Short-term debts	4,043	2.83	%	8,705	5.22	%
Long-term debts	40,039	28.04	%	58,252	34.93	%
Total debts	44,082	30.87	%	66,957	40.15	%
Equity attributable to owners of the parent company	98,739	69.13	%	99,796	59.85	%
Total	142,821	100.00	%	166,753	100.00	%

The Group’s objectives when managing capital are to safeguard the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern in order to provide returns for stockholders and benefits to other stakeholders and to maintain an optimum capital structure to minimize the cost of capital.

Periodically, the Group conducts debt valuation to assess possibilities of refinancing existing debts with new ones which have more efficient cost that will lead to more optimized cost-of-debt. In case of idle cash with limited investment opportunities, the Group will consider buying back its shares of stock or paying dividend to its stockholders.

In addition to complying with loan covenants, the Group also maintains its capital structure at the level it believes will not risk its credit rating and which is comparable with its competitors.

Debt-to-equity ratio (comparing net interest-bearing debt to total equity) is a ratio which is monitored by management to evaluate the Group’s capital structure and review the effectiveness of the Group’s debts. The Group monitors its debt levels to ensure the debt-to-equity ratio complies with or is below the ratio set out in its contractual borrowings arrangements and that such ratio is comparable or better than that of regional area entities in the telecommunications industry.

The Group’s debt-to-equity ratio as of December 31, 2018 and 2019 is as follows:


	2018		2019
Total interest-bearing debts	44,082		66,957
Less: cash and cash equivalents	(17,435)		(18,241)
Net debts	26,647		48,716
Total equity attributable to owners of the parent company	98,739		99,796
Net debt-to-equity ratio	26.99	%	48.82	%

As stated in Note 20, the Group is required to maintain a certain debt-to-equity ratio and debt service coverage ratio by the lenders. For the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, the Group has complied with the externally imposed capital requirements.