Celcom rings up record quarterly net profit

By Goh Thean EuPublished: 2009/12/05

Celcom's primary target now is to double its mobile broadband customer base to one million by end-2010

CELCOM (Malaysia) Bhd will focus on pushing its mobile broadband service to sustain its quarterly growth streak, its top executive said after announcing a record quarterly net profit yesterday.

Its primary target now is to double its mobile broadband customer base to one million by end-2010 from 475,000 in the third quarter ended September 30 2009.

"That's our ambition. It's challenging, but it won't be impossible. In fact, right now, we have already touched the 500,000-mark," Celcom chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly told a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

In the nine months to September, its mobile broadband business brought in RM245 million revenue, more than triple the RM71 million made in the same period last year.



Celcom's mobile broadband base more than doubled to 475,000 in the third quarter from 179,000 a year ago.

In a saturated market, mobile operators would need to grow their revenue by getting the existing customers to spend more as well as woo new customers from their rivals. Mobile broadband is seen as a service which the operators can upsell their customers.

In the third-generation (3G) mobile broadband space, Celcom currently leads other mobile operators in terms of subscriber base. Maxis Bhd has fewer than 200,000 subscribers as of the third quarter of this year.

In the nine-month period, Celcom's revenue rose 11.9 per cent to RM4.63 billion, while net profit increased 17.7 per cent to RM1.13 billion.

Its third quarter net profit of RM404 million is the highest quarterly net profit in its history.

Celcom's customer base registered a 4.6 per cent increase to 10.14 million.

The company, which saw its 14th consecutive quarter-ly growth, expects special events like World Cup 2010 and economic recovery to drive growth next year.

Of the overall mobile subscriber market in the third quarter, Celcom's share rose 0.4 per cent to 34.6 per cent, while Maxis' and DiGi.Com's share declined 0.2 per cent each to 40.1 per cent and 25.3 per cent respectively.

Celcom's market share in terms of revenue gained 0.3 per cent to 33.1 per cent in the quarter reviewed.

Shazalli believes that, with the right strategies, products and after-sales service, Celcom can grow its revenue and market share further.

"We will be implementing new synergies focusing on customer touch points, human capital and strengthening position with renewed zest and commitment. This will be done concurrently with an accelerated broadband push and continued 'smart spending' cost management," he said.