Maxis posts strong Q1 results
Company sustains momentum on rising demand for high-speed data
PETALING JAYA: Maxis Bhd has reported a strong set of results for the first quarter ended March 31, boosted by consumers’ growing demand for high-speed data and higher revenue from telecom services.
Average revenue per user (ARPU), a key financial measure for telecommunications companies (telcos), was up.
Chief executive officer Morten Lundal said there was sustained postpaid and prepaid momentum in a very price-focused market.
“Data volume keeps growing and we are matching the demand with a high-performing network experience. This is a very important year for us, where we will be going all out digital to create unmatched customer experience,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Maxis recorded solid momentum in 4G long-term evolution (LTE) adoption across its customer base.
It now has 5.2 million LTE devices on its network, up from 3.2 million a year ago.
The average 4G LTE usage is now at 6.5GB per month, significantly higher than the average of 2.6GB per month a year ago.
“Postpaid revenue was at RM989mil against RM997mil a year ago, with a solid base of nearly 1.8 million MaxisONE customers with a high monthly ARPU of RM121,” Maxis said.
The telco added 826,000 new MaxisONE subscriptions over the past one year.
“Prepaid revenue is at RM1.005bil against RM1.008bil in the first quarter last year with continued good traction on mobile Internet ARPU,” it added.
Maxis said investments for future efficiencies and one-time adjustments had impacted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda).
It noted that normalised Ebitda was at RM1.118bil as compared to RM1.156bil last year.
The group said its normalised net profit rose 5.4% to RM510mil from RM484mil a year ago, while its service revenue was stable at RM2.129bil compared with RM2.122bil a year ago.
In terms of earnings, Maxis reported a decline to RM505mil from RM518mil a year ago.
Total revenue, however, rose 0.8% to RM2.157bil from RM2.140bil.
Earnings per share was at 6.7 sen compared with 6.9 sen before. It has declared an interim dividend of five sen a share, similar to a year ago.
The telco said it had invested RM162mil in the first quarter and was “guiding for RM1.2bil for 2017.”