Malaysia’s Maxis Communications, which own the country’s largest mobile operator by subscribers Maxis Mobile, has released its financial results for the three months ended 31 March 2010, posting a net profit of MYR552 million (USD168.9 million), up from a loss of MYR42 million in the same period a year earlier. Maxis however noted that its most recent results did ‘not represent a like for like comparison’ of the group’s operational performance due to the accounting method adopted for the current company structure which was introduced on 1 October 2009; according to pro-forma numbers released by the company net profit rose 0.9% year-on-year from MYR547 million. Meanwhile Maxis reported that revenues for the three-month period were up 21% on a non-comparative basis at MYR2.15 billion, with pre-tax profits at MYR765 million compared to a MYR17 million loss in 1Q 2010.
In terms of subscribers, at end-March 2010 Maxis had increased its mobile customer base to 12.69 million, up 13% compared to the 11.26 million reported at end-March 2009. Net additions of pre-paid users outpaced post-paid, with 1.2 million new pre-paid subscribers in the quarter compared to just 56,000 post-paid customers.
Commenting on the operator’s plans for 2010, Sandip Das, Maxis CEO, noted: ‘This year we will continue to fortify our leadership by providing more innovative new products and services to satisfy customer’s needs, investing MYR1.4 billion in the Maxis network including increasing our high speed wireless broadband coverage from 57% to 80% of the population and deploying new capabilities through our IT transformation.