KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Bhd showed strong adoption of fibre in the third quarter of this year, with increased prepaid revenue.
The mobile telecommunication services provider has also maintained postpaid leadership with strong uptake for its Hotlink Postpaid Flex and MaxisONE Prime converged plan.
For the quarter, Maxis has also registered strong customer satisfaction with a Touchpoint Net Promoter Score of +58.
For quarter-on-quarter comparison, Maxis service revenue was up 1.1 per cent to RM1,940 million from RM1,918 million, backed by a resilient core performance.
Maxis continued to lead in postpaid, with a high monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) of RM90 and increase in postpaid subscribers by more that 128,000, bringing the total base to 3.2 million.
On earnings, Maxis revenue rose to RM2.28 billion from RM2.26 billion previously, while net profit is at RM358 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2019 (Q319) as compared to RM513 million posted in the same period last year.
"The lower net profit was largely contributed by the termination of a network sharing agreement, decline in Prepaid RGS, an overall reduction in prepaid and postpaid average ARPU, offset by the growth in postpaid and home fibre subscribers,” Maxis told Bursa Malaysia in a filing.
Postpaid revenue, including wholesale, grew to RM979 million from RM972 million due to a larger base, strong customer engagement and high data usage.
Operating free cash flow remained strong, growing quarter after quarter and increasing by 4.4 per cent in Q3 to RM1.1 billion.
"It was a strong Q3 performance, with many positives across all our business segments. Our convergence ambition is on track.
"We are making very good progress in our enterprise growth strategy with solid partnerships, and continuing to build a strong home fibre base in line with the recently launched National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (NFCP).
"We are already forging ahead with our 5G readiness and committed to deploy as soon as spectrum is made available.
“We will continue to deepen our engagement with our customers – individuals, homes and businesses – and in providing them with the best digital experience and converged solutions,” Maxis chief executive officer Gökhan Ogut said in a statement today.
Despite normalised net profit tax trimming by 7.7 per cent to RM361 million, impacted primarily from termination of the wholesale agreement, the strong operating free cash flow has enabled the company to continue reinvesting for the future including mobilisation of enterprise business growth opportunities and fibrenation, and declare a third interim dividend of 5 sen net per share.
“We are already forging ahead with our 5G readiness. We are committed to deploying as soon as the spectrum is made available.
“We will continue to deepen our engagement with our customers and in providing them with the best digital experience and converged solutions,” Gökhan said.
He said Maxis would continue to focus on its long-term ambition of being Malaysia’s leading converged communications and digital services company, leveraging on its strong 4G network and expanding its presence in the fixed broadband market in both consumer and enterprise.