KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia, Malaysia’s oldest telecommunications provider, said Friday that net profit fell 4.2% on the year to 159.8 million ringgit ($35.9 million) for the quarter ended Sept. 30 on higher operating costs.
Operating revenue edged up to 2.92 billion ringgit, according to a filing with Bursa Malaysia. The company credited higher revenue from internet and multimedia, other telecommunications-related services and non-telecommunications-related services “partially offset by reduction in voice and data services.”
“We remained resilient over the first nine months of the year despite an overall challenging environment,” Group CEO Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa said in a news release. “Our LTE service, webe, is now officially operational, and still has an impact on our financial performance, on account of the costs associated with the LTE rollout and webe’s initial operations.”
Telekom Malaysia entered the market for 4G Long-Term Evolution mobile service with webe in late September. Webe offers select customers one plan with unlimited calls, text and data for a flat 79 ringgit a month — a price-sensitive service plan challenging those from the existing big three telecommunications providers: Maxis, Axiata Group’s Celcom and DiGi.com.
For the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, Telekom Malaysia said it is working with property developers to strengthen existing infrastructure and facilitating deployment of “internet of things” solutions integrated into local developments.
It also pledged to implement the Broadband Improvement Plan initiative in 2017, including a higher-value broadband package offering for nonbroadband customers. Malaysia’s budget for 2017, announced last month, promised faster speeds for fixed-line broadband at the same price. Earnings will not be affected by the directive, Zamzamzairani told local media.
Telekom Malaysia’s shares declined 1.11% to 6.22 ringgit Friday, while the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI went up 0.19%.
