KUALA LUMPUR : Telekom Malaysia Bhd
’s (TM) net profit fell by 11% to RM166.87 mil in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 from RM188.84mil a year ago but its performance was much better than the second quarter.
The telecommunications company said on Thursday group normalised profit after tax and minority interest (PATAMI) was RM200.2mil in the third quarter.
However, group revenue was up 10.8% to RM2.922bil from RM2.63bil a year ago. Earnings per share were 4.44 sen.
Commenting on the earnings, TM said they were due to higher tax charges as well as foreign exchange losses due to the weakening of the ringgit against the dollar during the group’ third quarter.
For the nine-month period, its earnings fell 17.2% to RM507.85mil from RM613.51mil in the previous corresponding period. However, its revenue rose 5.7% to RM8.537bil from RM8.077mil.
To date, TM’s total capital expenditure as at Sept 30, 2015 amounted to RM1.15bil, with RM467mil spent during the third quarter, the group disclosed in a statement today.
TM group chief executive officer Tan Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa said: “The third quarter was a mixed one for us. We close the quarter with some improvements in our performance despite an overall challenging environment.”
When compared with the preceding quarter ended June 30, 2015, TM said revenue was up 2.9% to RM2.92bil in Q3 FY15 from the RM2.84bil in Q2 due to higher voice and data revenue contribution.
Earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) for Q3, 2015 jumped 47% to RM449mil from RM305.5mil in Q2, boosted by higher revenue and lower operating expenses.
“Stripping off some non-operational items, in particular foreign exchange gain on international trade settlement, group normalised EBIT was up by 10.3% on-quarter at RM328.6mil.
Group reported profit before tax increased 1.1% on-quarter to RM259mil in Q3, 2015 from RM256.1mil in Q2 “due to the higher revenue growth despite higher foreign exchange losses on borrowings in the recent quarter”
Zamzamzairani said TM continued to maintain its position as Malaysia’s Broadband Champion; ready to evolve to being a Convergence Champion.
“Operationally, we recorded a 3.7% increase in total broadband customers as compared to Q3 last year, from 2.21 million to 2.29 million. This is driven by UniFi which recorded a 1.4% growth from preceding quarter to 793,000 customers activated. I
“In line with increasing demand for higher bandwidth, 53% of our broadband customers are now on packages above 4Mbps,” he said.
He said last month, TM introduced its new refreshed UniFi brand and proposition, called UniFi Advance Plan offering speeds of 30Mbps up to 50Mbps together with HyppTV Value Packs for customers. W
As for P1, he said TM was continuing to “prepare for our entry into the mobile market; working very closely with P1 which is being developed as the mobile arm and mobility centre of excellence of the TM Group”.
“Importantly, the development of TM’s overall LTE network roll-out is on track with the core LTE network being managed and planned for future growth by P1.
“We are now building on that core to roll out nationwide starting with urban areas and adjacent to existing base stations. TM and P1 are working together to start user trials and network readiness tests in December 2015, to ensure effective delivery of mobile services towards the launch in 2016,” he added.
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