Telekom Malaysia™ has released its financial and operational results for the six months ended 30 June 2012, with the fixed line incumbent revealing that profit after tax and minority interest (PATAMI) had more than doubled against the same period of 2011. In the first half of 2012 TM posted PATAMI of MYR599.1 million (USD194 million), up from MYR290.5 million in H1 2011, with the company noting that the increase was ‘due to the higher revenue, change in useful life of network assets and recognition of deferred tax income on unutilised tax incentives’. Indeed, turnover for the period rose by 9.7% to MYR4.808 billion, boosted by growth across all of the company’s key products. The operator reported revenue growth in all sectors, with turnover from its internet services notably rising by more than 21% to MYR1.145 billion. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) meanwhile stood at MYR1.478 billion, representing a 6.9% year-on-year increase, with the improvement mainly due to higher operating revenue. Capital expenditures in 1H12 totalled MYR785 million, up from MYR749 million in 1H11.
In operational terms, at the end of June 2012 TM’s total broadband accesses stood at 2.011 million, up 9.9% from the 1.830 million on its books a year earlier. Customers signing up to its UniFi, the telco’s fibre-based services offered over its in-deployment High Speed Broadband Network (HSBB), increased to 384,024, representing a more than three-fold rise against the same date a year earlier. Fixed line voice accesses meanwhile totalled 4.361 million at end-June 2012, down 0.8% y-o-y, but flat against the end of March 2012, with UniFi take-up helping to offset declines in traditional PSTN voice connections.
Highlighting the current status of its HSBB rollout meanwhile, TM revealed that, in terms of coverage, at the end of the first half of 2012 it had extended the network footprint to almost 1.26 million premises across 81 exchange areas. Further, the operator claims to have achieved a take-up rate of more than 33% against premises passed.
Commenting on the telco’s performance, TM CEO Dato’ Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa noted: ‘We’re happy to note that TM continues to progress well financially and operationally – producing an all-round positive set of solid results. Our performance in the first six months is very encouraging and reflective of the momentum we have built through our ongoing transformation initiatives.’