Axiata network traffic surges
PETALING JAYA: Axiata Group Bhd recently saw its network traffic surging between 12-40% in all the countries that it is operating in with the Celcom network traffic going up by 30% due to the movement control order (MCO).
Axiata said in its 2019 Annual Report that despite the rise in Celcom’s network traffic, its revenue will be impacted negatively due to the 1GB free MCO data allocation which is being offered by Malaysian telcos to the general public.
“Malaysian telcos are impacted by the 1GB ‘freebie’ per day mobile data use which has seen an extension beyond the initial 14-day MCO period,” Axiata said. “As customers will use this 1GB before utilising their data plan, we can expect this to dampen revenue for the entire industry. The net impact for Axiata varies according to our market: of between 0% and 40%.”
It also said that its prepaid mobile revenue had been affected by the closure of customer contact centres in its other markets.
The company said that movement restrictions have seen companies implement workfrom-home (WFH) measures and these have seen changes in user patterns.
The changes include the use of more data than voice which had seen the topographic shift in network congestion, that now centres in residential areas, rather than business centres and office buildings.
“There is also a shift in daily usage patterns, from previous peak usage that began from late afternoon till late evening, to current peak usage that begins in the early afternoon till late evening,” it said.
Axiata had also seen a dramatic increase in the use of digital tools and softwares such as Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Whatsapp, as well as streaming services such as Netflix.
“POST-MCO, we expect network traffic to continue to increase. However, as more people return to work, traffic will eventually even out though not likely to be the same as before, ” it said.
Axiata said that the economic recession could see many of its customers, especially those from the prepaid segment, to face job losses or salary cuts. “This, in turn, will increase churn significantly and the net impact on Axiata and all telcos may potentially be more negative as compared to during the MCO period, and we expect to see a decline in our customer base,” it said.
The company expects that in the longer term its traffic will continue on an uptrend, as people grow accustomed to digitisation in both their personal and work use, resulting in a new normal.
It said that WFH will become ever more ubiquitous as more companies encourage its adoption. Eventually, it said that there are expectations that unemployment will reduce as customers regain their jobs and businesses start to flourish again in the recovering economy.