Malaysia's Maxis has reported a 6% increase in first quarter profit, on the back of strong growth in non-voice mobile revenue.
The company, Malaysia's largest mobile operator by customers, lifted its profit for the quarter to 573 million ringgit ($180.6 million).
The operator posted a 4.5% increase in overall revenue to 2.23 billion ringgit, with non-voice mobile revenue growing 13.2% to 970 million ringgit. Non-voice services contributed 45.5% of total mobile revenue during the quarter.
Maxis ended the quarter with 13.8 million mobile subscribers, but said its revenue generating subscription base was 12.6 million.
The company revealed that more than a third of its customers use smartphones, and that it has 8 million active mobile internet users.
Initiatives to attract more mobile customers, including slashing IDD rates to a number of countries, fostered the net addition of 40,000 pre-paid customers from the prior quarter.
Maxis also rounded out Q1 with 41,000 subscribers to its home services, including 5,180 on fiber broadband connections.
While Maxis' growth for the quarter has been solid, rival Telekom Malaysia this week recorded a 53.5% increase in Q1 profit, and an 11% increase in revenue.