Malaysia’s Maxis Communications has published its financial results for 2013, with the operator delivering what it called ‘stable revenue’ for the period. In the twelve months ended 31 December 2013, Maxis reported a 1.3% year-on-year increase in revenues to MYR9.084 billion (USD2.88 billion) on the back of ‘positive contributions across all business segments except mobile’. Notably, the company highlighted turnover from the Enterprise Fixed segment, which it has identified as a ‘future growth driver’, as having increased by 18.2% against FY12. Normalised EBITDA for the year in review stood at MYR4.522 billion, representing a 3.7% increase against the previous financial year, while normalised profit after tax, excluding one-off items, was up 2.3% year-on-year to MYR2.097 billon. In terms of network investment, Maxis said it had spent MYR815 million in 2013, with such expenditure primarily directed towards the expansion of its 4G network, which it said now covers 15% of the population.
In operational terms, at the end of December 2013 Maxis’ mobile subscriber base totalled 12.893 million, which represented a decline of 8.5% from the 14.091 million customers it had on its books a year earlier. With the company noting that its pre-paid base was still impacted by high churn, such customers accounted for 9.528 million of the group total, down from 10.770 million at end-2012. Churn, Maxis said, was mainly down to non-active and non-revenue generating ‘Hotlink Youth Club’ SIM expiry and legacy plans. Post-paid customer numbers by comparison rose to 3.365 million at the end of the year, up 1.3% y-o-y, though this was actually down on the peak of 3.376 million recorded at end-June 2013.
Maxis CEO Morten Lundal said of the company’s fiscal performance: ‘2013 was not the easiest year for Maxis and yet we successfully delivered stable revenues with increased profit. 2014 will be a transformational year for Maxis. Looking ahead, it is clear where we need to go and what we need to do. Most importantly, we want to make sure that Maxis delivers the best Internet experience. So we will invest in network and IT, and design products and more services that maximise our customers’ freedom to communicate.’