(Associated Press via NewsEdge) State-controlled Telekom Malaysia said its net profit fell 38% year-on-year to 482.2 million ringgit ($133 million) in the third quarter to September.
The company said the lower profits were because exceptional gains had made in the same period last year due to proceeds from the listing of units Dialog Telekom and Excelcomindo Pratama.
This year's third quarter revenue was up 22.5% on-year to 4.23 billion ringgit ($1.2 billion), thanks to stronger income from its cellular, Internet and multimedia segments, the company said in a statement.
For the first nine months of the year, Telekom's net profit dipped to 1.44 billion ringgit ($397 million) from 1.58 billion ringgit a year earlier.
Revenue grew 18% on-year to 12 billion ringgit ($3.31 billion) during the period.
Telekom said its domestic cellular business via unit Celcom 'remains very competitive' after recent cuts in prepaid starter pack prices and reduced international direct dialing rates in the local industry.
The company's cellular mobile subscribers fell to 7.39 million in the third quarter, from 7.6 million in the second quarter.
Celcom is the only local mobile player that had net subscriber losses in the third quarter from the preceding quarter.
Top mobile phone company Maxis added 388,000 local subscribers in the quarter ended September to increase its customer base to 8.9 million, while DiGi.Com added 150,000 subscribers to land with 5.6 million customers.
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