Telekom Malaysia has more than doubled its Q3 profit as it grew data revenue and slashed costs.
The former state-owned operator netted 438.5 million ringgit ($139m) – a 144.8% improvement year-on-year – on revenue of 2.2 billion ringgit.
The result included a gain of 141.7 million ringgit from the sale of its 15.4% stake in satellite provider Measat Global.
Mobile data revenue grew 24.6% to 441 million ringgit, with the segment's contribution to the total increasing to 20% from 17%. Fixed broadband subscriber growth also doubled year-on-year to 55,000, and its percentage of total revenue increased one point to 19%.
The company said it had passed more than 700,000 premises with the UniFi high-speed broadband network being built with the Malaysian government. The rollout began in March and has resulted in 21,000 installations so far. The network is expected to pass 750,000 homes by end-2010.
Complementing the quarter's data growth was a slower decline in voice revenue, Telekom Malaysia said.
Lower spending also aided the bottom line. Capex has been 9% of revenue for the year to date, compared to 14.1% for 2009 and 16.7% in 2008.
Fitch Ratings on Friday affirmed Telekom Malaysia's A- credit rating on the strength of the quarterly figures.
But the firm did not provide an upgrade due to emerging competition in Malaysian broadband, as contenders sign on to use the UniFi network – and because of the nation's growing Wimax segment.
Telekom Malaysia expects “challenging” conditions for the rest of the year as a result of the intensifying rivalry, but ultimately believes it will benefit from long-term growth in the broadband market.
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