KUALA LUMPUR: Time dotCom Bhd will spend about RM110mil on capital expenditure (capex) this year, with the bulk of investment for the expansion of its network coverage.
Chief executive officer Afzal Abdul Rahim said the company’s focus for this year is on expanding network coverage in key market segments, offering complete end-to-end communication solutions.
“We very much believe in the fixed-broadband business compared with mobile segment which is nearing saturation,” he said.
“The growth that we see for the telecommunications industry going forward is the provision of data and Internet broadband services, that is where our focus is.”
Consisting of broadband, Internet and managed services, Time dotCom’s data business contributed 60% of the company’s revenue last year and saw a double-digit growth of 14% year-on-year in the first quarter ended March 31, 2010.
Riding on this growth, Afzal said Time dotCom will edge out the competition by offering innovative data product packages and price plans that emphasise higher bandwidth capacity and service quality to meet the void in the current marketplace.
“We have already rolled out the country’s first 50 megabits per second (Mbps) fibre-to-the-home connectivity at Mont Kiara in February and it is gaining momentum with an average revenue per user of RM150 per month. The next area will be in Kuala Lumpur city centre around the third quarter this year,” he said.
Afzal said the company is looking at gaining market share in vertical sectors such as wholesale, corporate and government.
The wholesale market segment is a biggest revenue contributor to Time dotCom, with business growing by 29% last year and 39% year-on-year in first quarter this year.
“We have made significant strides in a relatively short period. We now have a healthy balance sheet and more than enough to support our capex.
“Moving forward, I’m confident that the company is able to grow our market share from 2010 and beyond,” he said after the company’s annual general meeting here yesterday.
Time dotCom, Malaysia’s alternative fixed-line telecommunications solution provider besides Telekom Malaysia Bhd and Maxis Bhd, has about RM175mil in cash to date.
It hosts the country’s most robust fibre-optic network with its 6,000km of land and submarine cables. — Bernama
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