Telcos fall ahead of plan for telco spectrum

Free package: Celcom may be seen as keeping up with rival Maxis Bhd, which last year had begun offering free voice and SMS for its Maxis OnePlan users

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s telco players Maxis, Axiata and DiGi fell in late Thursday trade on news about the Government’s plan for the telecommunications spectrum soon.

At 3.57pm, Maxis fell 35 sen to RM6.25 with 10.14 million shares done, Axiata was down 32 sen to RM5.79 with 15.5 million shares traded.

DiGi lost 23 sen to RM4.87 with 18.32 million shares traded.

The fall in the telcos, which are part of the FBM KLCI component stocks, restrained the advance of the index.

Under the revision of the Budget 2016 announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at midday on Thursday, the Government will optimise the revenue from the telecommunication spectrum through a redistribution and bidding process which will be implemented soon.