Telekom Malaysia Group has published its financial results for the first half of 2017, with total turnover remaining broadly flat year-on-year, as increased revenues from its internet services offset a decline in fixed voice revenues.
In the six-month period under review TM generated group revenue of MYR5.94 billion (USD1.29 billion), up 0.7% year-on-year. Internet revenues in H1 2017 totalled MYR1.95 billion, representing an increase of 8.5% against the corresponding period a year earlier, while fixed voice turnover stood at MYR1.59 billion, down from MYR1.67 billion (a 5.1% annualised drop). Group reported EBITDA for 1H 2017 was MYR560.9 million, meanwhile, almost unchanged from the MYR561.0 million reported for the first half of 2016. With net profit for the six-month period coming in at MYR440.9 million, this was 4.5% lower than in the first half of 2016, though notably TM did record a sizeable increase in net profit in 2Q17; with quarterly net profit rising by 51% to MYR210.5 million, attributed in part to a foreign exchange gain of MYR50 million.
In operational terms, at the end of June 2017 TM’s broadband subscribers totalled 2.36 million, down marginally from 2.37 million year-on-year, though an increasing proportion of that figure – 1.01 million (June 2016: 900,000) – are now served over the company’s fibre-based ‘UniFi’ network. TM also confirmed that 88% of UniFi customers are now on packages with a downlink speed of at least 10Mbps, compared to 68% at end-June 2016. Fixed voice accesses have continued to decline, meanwhile, falling to 4.14 million at mid-2017, down from 4.22 million a year earlier.