Best Mobile Carrier | Celcom Axiata |
| Last year's winner: | XL (now XL Axiata) |
| Main Business: | 2G, 3G and satellite networks |
| CEO: | Shazalli Ramly |
| Key stats (Q409): | Revenue $1.96b (RM6.3b), up 13% year-on-year; 10.1m mobile subs, up 16%, 511,000 mobile broadband subs |
Celcom is on a run and has been for the past four years. It posted double-digit growth in earnings and subscribers in Q4 - its 15 consecutive quarter of growth. Not bad for a company that was in financial turmoil after the Asia financial crisis and was taken over by TM in 2003 to resolve its debt problems.
The operator closed 2009 with 10.1 million subscribers, up 16% from the previous year. Mobile broadband subs jumped 124% and now account for 6% of revenue (up from just 2% in 2000). Ebitda during the period rose 11%.
CEO Shazalli Ramly attributes the continued momentum to the execution of its segmented marketing strategy, fully restructured sales and distribution network, and continuous improvement in network quality and customer service.
Its work on the network side has delivered strong cost savings, with network costs as a percentage of revenue falling to 10.3% from 11.7% year-on-year.
Shazalli said its continued growth, even in the face of the recent recession, was due in part to efforts to reverse the historical trend of the mobile industry in Malaysia traditionally being very cyclical, with lower growth in the first half of the year.
"With the right strategies, product and after-sales services, we achieved sustainable revenue growth while maintaining profitability," he said.
Shazalli pointed to increased market saturation as the biggest challenge for operators.
"To maintain our current growth trends, the industry's focus will have to switch from customer acquisition to retention and value enhancement. This will necessitate different ways of approaching and rewarding our existing customers," he said.
Looking ahead, the CEO said fixed substitution shows a lot of potential, since many companies and households are looking to move to all-wireless voice and broadband solutions that are more cost-effective, but without sacrificing performance and reliability.
What the judges said: "For sustained growth and market leadership, and consistently strong financial performance"
Winners' list:
- Best Asian Telecom Carrier - Softbank Mobile (Japan)
- Telecom CEO of the Year- Jamaludin Ibrahim, Axiata (Malaysia)
- Best Mobile Carrier - Celcom Axiata (Malaysia)
- Best Fixed-Line & Broadband Carrier - Hong Kong Broadband Network (Hong Kong)
- Best Emerging Markets Carrier - Tata DOCOMO (India)
- Best Regional Mobile Group - Axiata (Malaysia)
- Best Converged Services - SK Telecom (Korea)
- Best Content Strategy - PCCW (Hong Kong)
- Best Managed Services Provider - BT Asia-Pacific (UK)
- Best International Wholesale Carrier - Hutchison Global Communications (Hong Kong)
- Most Disruptive Technology- iPhone (Apple)
Related video: Celebrating Asia's telecom champions