Maxis third quarter net profit jumps 28pc

Published: 2009/12/01

Maxis Bhd (6012), the country's largest mobile phone company by market share, said its net profit rose 28 per cent for the third quarter ended September 30 2009, on the back of higher mobile subscription base.


Net profit for the July-September quarter was RM615 million from RM480 million the same period last year.

Revenue rose 2 per cent to RM2.16 billion from RM2.12 billion.

Maxis chief executive officer Sandip Das said total mobile subscriptions have grown to 11.7 million for the third quarter.

"We are encouraged by the growth in non-voice revenue, which accounts for 33 per cent of mobility revenue. We anticipate that this will be an area for future growth," he said in a statement yesterday.
In the third quarter, postpaid and prepaid average revenue per user (ARPU) stood at RM103 and RM41, respectively.

Postpaid minutes of use (MOU) per subscription was maintained at 373 minutes, while prepaid MOU per subscription was 119 minutes.

Maxis' capital expenditure (capex) spent amounted to RM291 million in the quarter under review, mainly on the roll-out of network infrastructure, as 1,191 more sites were built during the quarter to enhance coverage for customers.

There were also significant network swap activities for improved quality of coverage.

For the nine-month period ended September 30 2009, net profit was up 1 per cent to RM1.16 billion while revenue grew 3 per cent to RM6.4 billion.

The higher revenue was attributed to a 6 per cent growth in mobile subscription.

ARPU for postpaid dropped by RM11 due to higher take-up of lower-priced commitment plans, while prepaid ARPU dropped RM5 due to lower tariffs.

ARPU for wireless broadband increased by RM8 or 9 per cent. Average postpaid and prepaid MOU per subscription decreased by 30 minutes and 20 minutes respectively mainly due to lower usage during the current year-to-date.

Non-voice revenue as a percentage of mobility revenue increased from 28.5 per cent to 31.7 per cent.

"Going forward, we are confident that Malaysia telecom revenues will continue to grow as we are at the inflection point of broadband growth," said Sandip.

Maxis also declared an interim single-tier tax exempt dividend of 6 sen per ordinary share for the financial year ending December December 2009.