CelcomDigi, the enlarged entity formed following the merger of Malaysian cellcos Celcom and Digi, has published its financial results for the quarter ended 31 March 2023, with this marking the company’s first full quarter of combined financial reporting post-merger.
In the three months under review, CelcomDigi recorded a total turnover of MYR3.180 billion (USD693 million), which it said represented a 4.3% year-on-year increase from a ‘comparable’ revenue figure of MYR3.050 billion in Q1 2022. Service revenue rose by 0.9% on an annualised basis, meanwhile, to MYR2.670 billion in 1Q23 driven by ‘improvement across all segments except for wholesale and others due to lower contributions from wholesale partners’. In addition, CelcomDigi reported EBITDA of MYR1.511 billion for the January-March quarter, up from MYR1.461 billion in 1Q22, while profit after tax stood at MYR321 million (1Q22: MYR499 million).
Operationally CelcomDigi claimed ‘healthy total [subscription] growth’ as it closed out 31 March 2023 with a total of 20.292 million mobile subscriptions, up from 19.698 million a year earlier. Of that total, 11.163 million subscriptions were reportedly attributable to the Digi brand, up from 10.241 million, with 9.128 million being attributable to the Celcom brand, compared to 9.457 million previously.
Away from the mobile sector, CelcomDigi also claimed ‘good momentum’ on the company’s fibre-based fixed broadband offerings. Across both the Celcom and Digi brands the operator was said to have 107,000 fibre-based fixed broadband subscriptions at the end of 1Q23, up from 86,000 a year earlier, with the lion’s share of the most recent figure, or 71,000, attributable to the Celcom brand.
Commenting, CelcomDigi’s CEO, Datuk Idham Nawawi, said: ‘We are pleased with the positive results in Q1 FY2023, having performed in line with our guidance. We maintain strong fundamentals to operate as a high-performing company, practicing operational excellence. We are accelerating integration efforts across the board, focusing on bringing the benefits of the merger to our customers in the shortest time possible.’