KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd
(TM) is on track to deliver its 2026’s goals, and has a positive outlook for the remainder of the year.
TM group chief executive officer Datuk Amar Huzaimi Md Deris said the group’s journey to becoming a digital powerhouse by 2030 is still very much ongoing, and its recent results have further reinforced TM’s role as the nation’s digital orchestrator.
For the second quarter ended June 30, 2026, the telecommunications group posted a higher revenue of RM2.96bil – 6.8% higher than the RM2.77bil achieved in the same quarter last year.
Despite a higher revenue, profit for the quarter under review was lower at RM365.5mil versus RM402.97mil last year.
For the first half of financial year 2026 (1H26), TM saw its revenue grow 5.8% to RM5.9bil, but profit was lower at RM687mil.
The decrease was mainly due to the group’s Prihatin initiative that allowed voluntary separation requests from employees seeking early retirement, and strategic investment in the FIFA World Cup 2026 sponsorship.
However, Amar Huzaimi said they will continue advancing the strategic growth priorities as promised.
“Despite there being a couple of unknowns which will affect the second half, I am confident in our market values, and we will continue to execute in a way that delivers targets,” he said to reporters during the group’s second quarter results announcement here yesterday.
According to Amar Huzaimi, for the second half of the year, he expects the three main businesses which are Unifi, TM One and TM Global to continue being growth drivers as all of them recorded a positive growth rate.
For Unifi, revenue grew 5.2% to RM2.91bil in 1H26, supported by stronger adoption of device-bundled and converged offerings across broadband, mobile, content and smart home solutions.
“We are also seeing encouraging action in smartphone solutions, particularly the smart cameras introduced under the 360 Home Protection campaign earlier this year. These solutions are powered by AI, while extending Unifi’s proposition beyond just connectivity,” he said.
He explained for micro, small and medium enterprises, TM has continued to expand relevant digital solutions including cloud and cybersecurity services.
As for TM One, revenue increased 1.9% to RM1.36bil in 1H backed by demand for connectivity and advanced digital solutions from businesses as well as the government.
Amar Huzaimi explained the government segment growth was driven by new wins and renewals across cloud, contact centre outsourcing, smart services and cybersecurity.
“This was complemented by recurring connectivity demand and project renewals to support national strategic projects, reflecting the resilience of the core revenue base.
“Enterprise demand for core services remains healthy, with large connectivity contract renewals and new data services in banking segments alongside continued momentum in data centre (DC) services,” he pointed out.
When asked if the group is going to focus more on DC’s and AI-related infrastructure for the remainder of the year, Amar Huzaimi said the planned ratio for capital expenditure will be balanced between DC’s and its 5G and fibre services.
“Capital expenditure (capex) ratio is guided at 18% to 20% for the whole year, and while we don’t disclose the extensive breakdown for capex, I can say it will be equally balanced for the old and new growth areas,” he said.
For 1H capex stood at RM555.7mil, representing 9.4% of revenue.
Meanwhile, for its dividend policy, Amar Huzaimi said as its second quarter earnings reflected a positive performance, the board declared a second interim dividend of seven sen per share – bringing the total dividend for the first half of 2026 to to 13.5 sen per share, representing 75% of reported profit after tax and minority interests, higher than the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported that TM is keen to participate in the Sambungan Kabel Dasar Laut Madani (Salam) project.
Amar Huzaimi was quoted as saying that TM is optimistic about evaluating options to enhance connectivity between East and West Malaysia through the project.
“We are optimistic about evaluating options to connect Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia. Certainly Salam is one of the projects that we are keen to participate in.”
On July 16, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) invited eligible licencees to submit draft proposals for the Salam initiative, a strategic national project under the Universal Service Provision framework.
The Salam initiative will establish a new submarine cable system linking Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, comprising 10 Cable Landing Stations connected via four submarine cable segments spanning approximately 5,582 km.
MCMC said the project is designed to strengthen the resilience, reliability and continuity of the country’s communications network.
