CELCOM TO SPEND RM1.1b ON NETWORK EXPANSION
KUALA LUMPUR: Celcom Axiata Bhd plans to spend RM1.1 billion in capital expenditure (capex) for network expansion in the second half of the year.
The telecommunications company had spent a total of RM400 million on spectrum refarming in the first half of the year.
Chief executive officer Michael Kuehner said Celcom targeted to increase its 4G long-term evolution (LTE) population coverage to 85 per cent by year-end from 77 per cent currently.
“Our capex remains at RM1.5 billion for this year, and we are investing around RM1 billion for network expansion, which is within the approved budget,” he said at a media briefing, here, yesterday.
Kuehner said Celcom had performed better than the industry in quarter-on-quarter service revenue despite the increasingly saturated market.
The company registered a 1.4 per cent increase in service revenue to RM1.495 billion in the second quarter ended June 30, while the industry’s service revenue shrank 0.2 per cent.
Service revenue focuses on telecommunications-related sales, excluding device sales.
In the second quarter, Celcom’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew 7.2 per cent to RM630 million from RM587 million last year while its total revenue increased 0.7 per cent to RM1.621 billion.
Kuehner said the improved performance in the second quarter was due to improved postpaid revenue and more stabilised cost structure.
He said the company also strengthened its sales and distribution system throughout the quarter to improve its base of active dealership.
“We initiated the dealer digitisation programme, which not only improved the availability overall but also enabled a better dealer experience in terms of acquisition and mobile Internet provisioning at retail outlets.”
He said the company was optimistic that it could regain some of the market share and register growth for the rest of the year amid industry challenges.