Malaysia’s fixed line incumbent Telekom Malaysia™ has released its financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2010, posting a 15.4% year-on-year increase in pre-tax profit to MYR519.5 million (USD165.7 million). Revenues also increased, up from MYR4.23 billion in 1H 2009 to MYR4.28 billion a year later, boosted by an 11.5% y-o-y increase in data revenue to MYR822.6 million, driven by demand for higher bandwidth services. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) however fell 14.3% against 1H 2009, down to MYR1.41 billion, a drop that the company attributed to higher operating costs.
Operationally, at end-June 2010 TM reported that broadband subscribers had risen to 1.54 million, up 12.5% against end-June 2009, while the number of customers having signed up to services offered over the operator’s new High Speed Broadband (HSBB) network stood at 4,800.